


Sundial

by StarmanSymphony



Series: View-Monster Duology [1]
Category: MOTHER: Cognitive Dissonance
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Breaking the Fourth Wall, Flashbacks, Gen, Hurt, I guess? I guess you could call it that?, It doesn't have that much connection aside from some characters, It's like. an AU that's also a prequel?, Like this is some real Gravity Falls stuff right here, Lots of weird stuff going on, Meta, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Secrets codes, That's the best I can put it, This one's weird in its relation to CogDis, in a sense?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-08
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2020-08-11 21:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 44,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20160046
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarmanSymphony/pseuds/StarmanSymphony
Summary: Aside from the lack of PSI, Ralivil lived a normal life on the outskirts of Satralia. But overnight, a strange tattoo appeared on his back, and his PSI abilities coming to fruition with it, and before he knows it, he's thrown into a mission to save the world from its preordained end. But changing fate is no easy feat...





	1. Don't Mind Me, I've Just Got Some Problems to Work Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A bit of mystery for you and the poor, unsuspecting protagonist.

“The rings of Saturn are known for their peace and quiet. It is a place where nothing of interest happens, and everyone goes about their lives in harmony. Interest level: Low.”

They scoffed under their breath. “Interest level: Low.”

An ear twitched as they looked out the window of the spaceship. “You poor Saturnians. The balance and peace of your planet will soon be torn apart.”

They were silent for a moment before saying to themself again, “The Bearer should have emerged by now. I must hurry.”

They looked around the room they stood in and murmured, “Goodbye, View-Monster. You have served me well.”

They jumped out of the hatch and hovered to the ground.

* * *

Ralivil opened up his hyberpod and clambered out. Just another usual morning for this green Mook. He gave his cave a quick gloss over to check if anything had been stolen or damaged during the night. He doubted it, since nothing exciting ever happened to the B Ring, but it never hurt to check. He then stretched his arms out as he yawned.

Ralivil was kind of odd for a Mook – he didn’t have any PSI. Other Mooks had teased him about it for years, but he never found a problem with not having PSI himself. He didn’t feel inadequate in any way – in fact, he felt good about having no PSI. No doctor his parents took him to could figure out why he didn’t have any PSI, but did Ralivil care? No. It felt freeing, not conforming to society’s standards of what a Mook should be like.

Which was exactly why he started worrying when he noticed his body felt… off. It felt tenser. Tenser in a way he couldn’t put into words. He shook about his tentacles in a fruitless attempt to shake off the weird feeling. It lingered.

_‘Ralivil.’_

Ralivil’s eyes widened. “Who said that?!”

_‘On your back.’_

Ralivil twisted his eyestalks to look on his back, like the strange voice from nowhere said. And right there, just under his right tentacle, was an even stranger tattoo. It was of another Mook, inked in blue, holding an apple inked in yellow. It was drawn in a strangely archaic way, like the pictures you would find on the walls of ruins.

Ralivil stared wide-eyed at the tattoo for a few long moments before muttering, “How the hell did _that _get there…?”

He managed to pry his eyes away from it and move his shoulder a little. He slid up to the entrance of his cave and looked around nervously. No one was around.

_‘Good. Hopefully I can get to the Doc without anyone seeing me, or this weird tattoo of mine-‘_

Ralivil noticed that his left tentacle felt suspiciously cold. He looked down to see that his right tentacle, which had been wrapped around the left, had coated the latter in a thin layer of ice.

_‘Oh dear stars.’_

He knew what this was. This was PK Freeze. On his tentacle. He wasn’t sure what level, he hoped that it was Alpha, but he didn’t really care in the moment. He had PSI now. He had PSI now. This wasn’t normal. Not at _all. _First the tattoo, then the PSI – whatever the connection was, he had to get to Doctor Saturn – stat.

Ralivil darted out of his cave and ran into Satralia. The Mr. Saturn who ran the store nearby his cave peeked out the door to see what had gotten the Mook into such a rush. Ralivil didn’t notice, and thank goodness he didn’t.

Satralia was… eerily empty. There wasn’t a Mr. Saturn in sight. There was usually at least one up by now – Ralivil had slept in, even. The fact that not even the _mayor _was up concerned him. He hoped the Doctor was still around. If his memory served, he never really went out much anyway. He probably lived in the hospital, now that he thought about it.

Ralivil ran up to the hospital door and knocked thrice on it. There was no reply. No sound. Usually Doctor Saturn would open the door with telepathy, if he hopped up to it from in his trash can or not. But there was no sound from inside. Not the single clang of a trash can hitting the floor.

From behind him, someone told him, “Hey, dude, if you’re lookin’ for the Doc, you’re outta luck.”

Ralivil looked over his shoulder to see a hot pink UFO hovering not to far away. Ralivil quickly turned around and pressed his back to the door.

“Uh… hey,” he awkwardly greeted.

“Yo,” the pink UFO replied. “As I was sayin’ ‘bout the Doc, he went down to Sataene to see if he could do anything about the Sicko epidemic happenin’ down there. If you were wonderin’.”

Ralivil stood silent and slack jawed for a moment, before closing his mouth and nodding. He then glanced to the side before asking, “…What’s the Sicko epidemic.”

“You don’t know-“ The pink UFO groaned, then explained, “Look, anyone who’s anyone should know about the Sicko epidemic. It hit Sataene not that long ago. It’s been turnin’ the Mr. Saturn’s a real nasty green, and super agro to boot. No one’s really sure where it came from – some think it was from the fungus that was infestin’ Old Sataene, but everyone knows two things: there ain’t a cure for it right now, and that _pathetic _mayor down there sure ain’t doin’ anything to help.”

The pink UFO pointed to a nearby house with a thumb on a metal hand that extended from under it. “The other Mr. Saturns round here are scared of gettin’ the disease themselves, so they’ve locked themselves into their houses. It was the Colonel’s idea.”

“I… see,” Ralivil replied. “So, uh… I’m Ralivil. What’s your name?”

“Name’s Boson! Nice to meetcha, dog!” the pink UFO, Boson, said. “You musta had a crazy night last night, huh? I mean, that tat is straight _wild._”

Ralivil felt his face heat up. “You- Uh- You saw it?”

“It was kinda hard to miss. How many drinks did ya have to get the crazy idea to get the thing?”

“I- …I dunno. I’m sure I didn’t go outside of my cave last night, and I don’t have any alcohol there, either, so…”

“A friend coulda brought it over. You got any friends?”

“No…”

Boson flew up to Ralivil’s face and told him, “Then I’m gonna be your friend! There’s no stoppin’ me!”

Ralivil stared at Boson for a couple of moments before managing to get out, “…Okay…”

“I don’t usually make friends with Mooks, but you seem cool,” Boson told him.

_‘And that’s supposed to make me feel better **how?**’ _Ralivil thought.

“Now! Let’s get rollin’!” Boson shouted, pointing a finger in the air.

“Uh… Where are we going…?” Ralivil asked.

Boson looked back down at Ralivil and murmured, “Well you _did _wanna go see the Doc, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well that’s where we’re goin’!”

Ralivil nodded with understanding.

Boson flew ahead and called out to Ralivil, “C’mon!”

Ralivil tentatively followed, needing to jog to catch up to Boson.


	2. I'm Only Passing Through or Maybe Just Right Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We meet more new faces and enter a new town! Fun! There’s definitely fun!

The valley between Satralia and Sataene was filled with danger. It should have been called Danger Valley, but it didn’t actually have a name. Boson was pretty confident in his abilities, and he had every right to be – he was much stronger than Ralivil could have ever hoped to be. Many of the enemies they faced were Gemblooms that uprooted themselves from the ground and these weird sparks jittering from the ground. The occasional Mr. Sicko, as Boson said their unofficial name was, came to fight, too. But there weren’t that many of them.

In the middle of crossing the valley, Boson asked, “Dude, ain’t you a Mook? Why aren’t ya usin’ your PSI?”

“I- Uh-“ Ralivil thought for a moment, a bead of sweat rolling down his head, before replying, “I’m just not very… confident- with it yet. I feel better using tentacle kung fu.”

“Well, suit yourself.”

The trip from the Satralia end of the valley to the Sataene end took about 15 minutes in total. There weren’t too many enemies to face, fortunately. There was a great noise coming from the Sataene end of the valley that only grew louder as the two of them got closer. And just when they had finally made it to the end, they found out what was making it – a protest.

Multiple Mooks and Mr. Saturns were crowded together and chanting at the top of their lungs. Some carried signs, all of which with messages with their sheer anger at Elmadan, whoever he was, written on them. A short distance from the crowd was a light pink UFO wearing a square, brown backpack, watching them chant.

“Buzzy Bol! Dude! What’s goin’ on here?!” Boson shouted.

The light pink UFO, Buzzy Bol, turned around, and said, “Huh? What was that?”

Ralivil’s body tensed from shock. His voice was unexpectedly loud, yet with no effort into making it that way. He nearly fell over when Boson soon replied, matching the exact volume of Buzzy Bol’s voice, “Buzzy Bol! What the hey’s goin’ on?”

Buzzy Bol hovered over to Ralivil and Boson and replied, quieter this time, “Oh hey Bo! There’s this big protest going on because everyone in Sataene hates the mayor for not caring about the epidemic. I’ve tried to get past them so I can make this delivery, but they just won’t budge! I had to turn my mic up to max volume and everything!”

Boson frowned. “Well dang. That ain’t good.”

_‘Couldn’t he just… fly over them…?’ _Ralivil thought to himself.

“Sure isn’t,” Buzzy Bol replied. “So anyway, why are you and this Mook I have literally never seen before here?”

“This is Ralivil!” Boson introduced. “Me n’ him are goin’ to Sataene to see the Doc from Satralia.”

“Why?”

Boson glanced over at Ralivil, wide-eyed with panic.

“I- I got this weird tattoo on my back overnight, and PSI too, so I thought I’d let the Doc check it out,” Ralivil explained.

“Huh?” Buzzy Bol said. “You’re gonna have to tell me later, I can’t hear you over the crowd.”

Buzzy Bol drifted back towards the crowd, Boson and Ralivil following behind him. “So first thing’s first, how’re we gonna get past the crowd?”

Buzzy Bol and Boson hummed loudly in thought together for a few moments before Buzzy Bol said, “I got nothing.”

“Same here, dude,” Boson replied.

Ralivil suddenly felt a sharp pain from where the tattoo was. The pain shot from under his arm and through it. It reached the end of his tentacle within seconds. A bright flash burst out from it, blinding everyone in the area and instantly hushing the crowd. Shards of ice then fell all around. Thankfully, none of the shards hit anyone, but there were a few close calls. It was kind of hard for Ralivil to tell, since the effects of the flash made him uncontrollably cry. A few people were dizzy, some were sick, but thankfully, no one was dead.

Boson and Buzzy Bol glanced at Ralivil, and the former exclaimed, “What the _hell?!_”

Ralivil looked at Boson with an expression of confusion.

“That- What- HOW??”

Ralivil couldn’t find any words.

Boson hesitantly sighed. “Well I see why you don’t like usin’ your PSI now.”

The crowd shuffled to the sides, forming a path for the two UFOs and the Mook.

“Go on. You freak,” one of the Mooks among the crowd snarled.

Ralivil cast a glance to the ground, and Boson took his tentacle as he followed Buzzy Bol into the cave that lead to Sataene. Buzzy Bol and Boson took care of the bats that blocked their way, murmuring to each other, and soon enough they had arrived in Sataene. It looked… awful.

No one was outside. Not even the Mooks. The trio assumed it was for their safety. Fungus had started seeping into the town from Old Sataene and spreading all across the ground. There was quite a bit of it, but it thinned out as went further into town. Boson lead Ralivil and Buzzy Bol into town.

“So, uh- It’s Buzzy Bol, right?” Ralivil asked. Buzzy Bol gave a thumbs up.

“So, Buzzy Bol, who are you delivering to here?” Ralivil asked.

“The Doc. Sataene’s Doc, that is. I think there’s some doctor-y stuff in this here package,” Buzzy Bol replied.

Buzzy Bol caught sight of the hospital, and he flew up to it and knocked on the door. Ralivil wasn’t exactly in the mood to follow. The door of the hospital was opened by who he assumed to be Satralia’s Doctor Saturn. Buzzy Bol gave a quick greeting, then flung the brown bag off his UFO with a metal arm. He handed it to the Doc, who held it with telekinesis. The two of them talked for a few mintues, and once they were done, the Doc then closed the door, and Buzzy Bol darted back over to Ralivil and Boson.

“Got it done!” he announced. “I also asked about some other stuff, like the tattoo you’ve got, Ral.”

“Don’t- Don’t call me that-“

“The Doc just thought a ghost did it, maybe. His second guess is that you’ve got some really weird strain of the Sicko virus,” Buzzy Bol explained.

“WHAT?!”

“Yeahhhh. I also asked about the mayor! Apparently he’s still out and about looking for some weird person that’s got him less concerned about the Sicko epidemic and the fungus problem than ever. So there’s that.”

Everyone was silent for a few uncomfortable moments.

“How about we go talk some sense into him?” Boson suggested.

“Sounds like a plan,” Buzzy Bol replied.

“Wait, what about my tattoo? Are we just gonna ignore that the Doc thought it could be a strain of the Sicko virus?” Ralivil asked.

“For now, yeah,” Buzzy Bol replied.

Ralivil sighed.

“He’s gotta be around here somewhere,” Boson said. “Come on!” Boson then flew off into town. Buzzy Bol and Ralivil followed.

Boson suggested to knock on the doors of every house, to cover more ground quicker. There were very little replies from the townsfolk. They then regrouped once they found their search fruitless.

“Okay, so what are we gonna do?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“What does this Elmadan person look like?” Ralivil asked. “It would be a lot easier to find someone if we knew what they looked like.”

“He looks like a total fool. A straight nasty guy. Like if evil could barf,” Boson told him. “…But that’s what I think, anyway.”

Ralivil sighed.

Buzzy Bol pointed at a tall, grey building sitting on a hill in the distance and said, “We haven’t been there yet. He’s probably there.”

The trio began to head towards the strange grey building. They had only walked over up to a gate to the lower right from where they were when they heard a voice call out, “Hey!”

A purple Mook wearing a suit and tie, sunglasses and spike shoulder pads ran into view, then climbed over the gate. He scowled and hissed to them, “What the hell do you think you’re doing here? You do realise that it’s unsafe, right?”

“Because of the epidemic?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“They always think it’s the epidemic,” the purple Mook muttered to himself. “Well, aside from the epidemic! None of you are Mr. Saturns anyway!”

“What else is there that could be a threat to us?” Ralivil asked.

“There’s this… this offworlder, this really suspicious-looking offworlder, and they’re REALLY creepy,” the purple Mook explained. “They talked to me once, not too long ago… I think it’s been a day? They talked to me, and they wanted me to GET NAKED! Like, what is their deal?! Do they not not know how _offensive _that is? I’m pretty sure they wanted to f-“

From atop the hills, a hooded figure gracefully leapt down to the ground and said, “Hello again, Elmadan.”

Elmadan screamed at the top of his lungs.

This new arrival wore something akin to a hooded poncho, but the material was that of a robe. Their hooded robe was black, and obscured their face. A long, white snout poked out from the hood. The robe ended at their knees, showing their thin legs. A thin tail came out from under the robe and curled up slightly behind them. They were currently standing on the balls of their feet.

“Have you found the Bearer of the Prophet’s Mark yet?” the hooded figure asked. Their voice was low and relatively monotonous.

“I wasn’t even looking, you weirdo!” Elmadan replied.

The hooded figure flattened their feet, and padded closer to Boson, Buzzy Bol and Ralivil. They studied their faces closely, quietly humming in thought. They then padded around to their backs. They stared at Ralivil’s for a moment, paying no regard to the two UFOs.

“I found it,” the hooded figure said.

“Found what?” Elmadan asked.

“The Prophet’s Mark. And the Bearer, by association.”

“Wait- …What?” Ralivil asked, looking over his shoulder at the hooded figure.

“That marking on your back is the Prophet’s Mark. You are the Bearer,” the hooded figure explained. “Tell me, have you experienced anything unusual since you got it?”

“Well, I have PSI now when I didn’t for my whole life…” Ralivil told them. It felt kind of odd to just tell this person such information in their first conversation.

“And it’s wicked strong, too,” Boson added. “He let out a whole nasty PK Flash earlier!”

“Was that his intent?” the hooded figure asked.

Ralivil played with their tentacles. “No…”

The hooded figure was silent for a moment before quietly replying, “…I see.”

The hooded figure bowed to the trio and told them, “My name is Anue. I have been looking for the Prophet’s Mark for a few days now. Now that I’ve found you, maybe you can help with something else, Bearer.”

“Help? With what?” Ralivil asked. “And, uh, will this, uh… Prophet’s Mark… kill me?”

“Maybe. It depends on what happens next,” Anue simply replied.

They raised their head slightly and asked, “Do any of you have a place to stay in this town?”

Elmadan raised a gloved hand slightly and said, “I have this new base on the hill.”

“That will do nicely. Come along.”

“I didn’t say you could use it!”

Anue ignored him, leaping from their current spot to next to the gate, then onto then off it. Ralivil was the first to follow, scrambling over the fence and rushing after Anue. Boson and Buzzy Bol exchanged glances before catching up. Elmadan sighed, then climbed over the fence and followed behind them.


	3. Somehow, Something Set My Sundial Backwards, Tilted and Upside Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile, not far from Saturn, we’ve got another character to get to know! So let’s get to know him!

Arix emerged from the hyberpod, ready for a brand new day. The room the commander had let him use for the night was quite nice, he had to admit. And he had it all to himself, too. It was strangely generous of them – usually, they didn’t give things out. Or even talk to others much.

Arix shook his head. Now wasn’t the time to get caught up in thinking about the commander’s shift in demeanour. It was time, though, to check the time. He didn’t want to be late!

He walked over to the other side of the room, where a digital clock and calendar were embedded into the wall. The numbers and letters were displayed in a bright green, and they said…

“_THE AFTERMATH 4?!_” Arix began to pace around the room. “I was supposed to leave on the _first! _How did I sleep in for three days?!”

He stood upright and said to himself, “Well, I can’t linger any longer! I need to get out of here and to Saturn, pronto!”

Arix dashed out of the room, skidding on his heels and making a loud **screech** as he did so. He looked around the large, almost maze-like room of paths in the high-roofed room. There were many Starmen milling about, going about their day-to-day jobs. But that wasn’t what Arix was doing. He ran down to the south-left – that’s where the airlock was. The commander had reserved a one-seat ship for him when the time came for him to head to Saturn.

He wasn’t paying much attention to his surroundings, though, and ran directly into another Starman. He stumbled back a little, his metallic body ringing. His gaze didn’t meet the other Starman’s immediately; he had to look up a little to see who it was. And oh stars, it was the last person he wanted to see.

Captain Deepsea.

Captain Deepsea was perhaps the biggest jerk within the ranks of the Starmen. He acted as though he was the highest ranking Starman there was, even though there were Starmen that far outranked him, just because he commanded three smaller ships. Arix knew a Final Starman who commanded 10; three small ships wasn’t anything to be so boastful about. Arix knew that if Deepsea had the chance, he would probably wear a dumb cape as well.

With Captain Deepsea were two other Blue Starmen. They shared the same smug look on their faces as their captain did.

“Well well, look what *beep* we have here,” Captain Deepsea said. “You really thought you make a break for it when there’s so many people around?”

“I’m following orders, _Deepsea,_” Arix growled.

Captain Deepsea cackled. “Sure! Because the commander would want _you _to go to some planet by yourself!”

“They gave me the orders face-to-face,” Arix told him, crossing his arms. “And they reserved a private room for me to stay in and a one-seat ship.”

Deepsea and the two Blue Starmen with him howled with laughter.

“They gave him a private room _AND _a ship!? *whirr* What a laugh!” one Blue Starman said.

“I don’t even know why the commander keeps a defect like you around,” Captain Deepsea told Arix. “Those cracks near your eye and on your arm are only going to get worse, *click* you know.”

Arix instinctively pressed his right arm to his body, and hid as much as he could with his left. The right arm was where two of said cracks were. The one at the bottom-left of his eye couldn’t be hidden, though. Arix hated that Deepsea was right.

“Now, get back to work.” Captain Deepsea clapped his hands twice.

Arix glared at him for a few long moments. He then took a step back and teleported right past him. It was a good thing that Arix got that Flashporter engine installed during Bureaucracy.

Captain Deepsea and the two Blue Starmen spun around.

“Wha- HEY!” Captain Deepsea yelled. Arix ran into the airlock as Captain Deepsea ran after him, yelling, “GET BACK HERE!”

Arix ran down the halls of the airlock, sometimes teleporting to get ahead of Deepsea. The two Blue Starmen with the captain followed him.

He had gained some distance on Deepsea when Arix stopped momentarily to taunt, “You won’t be able to catch me! *whirr* I’m going to carry out my orders! Just you watch!”

“WELL, I won’t stand by and let you do that, you little _pest!_” Deepsea raised his hands into the air and began charging a PK Beam. The two Blue Starmen with him looked up at the charging beam, then at each other, fear filling their visors.

Deepsea wrenched his eye shut as he concentrated. The light blob hovering above his hands flared with light, and then shot beams out all over. Arix narrowly dodged a couple of them as they destroyed the halls of the airlock.

“You know, the commander isn’t going to be very happy with you once they see this! *beep*” Arix told Deepsea.

“I don’t care! If you’re going to rebel, then so am I! If that’s what it takes to put you in *click* your place!” Captain Deepsea turned to the two Blue Starmen with him. “Ferox, Telescope.”

Captain Deepsea walked out of the airlock. Ferox and Telescope exchanged worried glances before following their captain.

Arix whirred with relief. “Well at least that’s over. I probably won’t see him again.”

Arix now had to teleport from one part of the now destroyed airlock to the other. Deepsea’s PK Beam flare had done a number on it. But soon, Arix had reached the end of the airlock, and climbed into the one-seat ship the commander had reserved.

Piloting the ship was easy – the commander had left a note with the basic controls, that ended with, “In case you needed a reminder. Or have never piloted a ship before. The latter, most likely.” Arix turned the ship on, readied the engines, then took off.

The ride was peaceful. There weren’t many ships out and about. Saturn was a rather large planet, so it was easy to find and navigate towards. The flight took about an hour and a half, but finding a place to land on the _rings _wasn’t so easy. Especially nearby Sataene.

Another 15 minutes was tacked onto the total flight time from just looking for a place to park the ship alone. Arix eventually settled on a cliff – he would have to walk through the swamp, but that didn’t bother him. He wasn’t organic, after all.

Arix would have preferred to carefully descend the cliff, but the bouncy flowers conveniently growing nearby had other plans. They threw Arix up into the air with little effort, and he almost butchered his fall. He would have hated to find out how much his cracks would have grown if he failed to land on his feet.

There were only two houses in the area he had landed in. One simply had a Mr. Saturn dancing inside, and the other… was a cave. Well, it looked like one, anyway. It was a house that looked like a cave; a random mound of dirt sticking up from the ground with a door and a sign in front of it.

“No one know what go on in there,” another Mr. Saturn, who was ambling around outside, told him. “Just know that crazy old Mook live there. Brrr!”

The sign outside the cave read, “Mad Malik’s house. Do not enter. That is, unless you’re on a superimportant intergalactic quest.” The “Mad” and the message after “Do not enter” had been handwritten on. The “Mad” looked more recent, but it was hard to tell. Both additions to the sign had been dry for many years. Arix figured his orders were at least intergalactic. He knocked thrice, waited for a second, then went inside.

There were no lights on inside. There was a screen high up on the wall, flashing with green symbols crazily scrolling up it. Standing before it was a white Mook, his eyes wide and fixated on the screen. Arix looked up at the screen himself for a few moments. He couldn’t make heads or tails of whatever was on that screen. They weren’t characters Arix recognised, and the speed at which all the they were moving didn’t help.

“Um, hello? *click* Are you… Malik?” Arix asked the old Mook.

The Mook whipped his head around to face Arix. He stared for a few moments before slithering up to him and looking him over. The only response he gave was a deep hum.

“Y’see, I’m just here on my commander’s orders – not to colonize the planet or anything! I’m… not really sure _what _I’m doing, to be honest. *beep* But the sign outside your house said that I could come in if I was on a superimportant intergalactic quest, and I _do _think it’s intergalactic at least, so-“

“I FORGOT TO TAKE IT DOWN!” the old Mook screeched. There was an eerily long pause before the Mook murmured to Arix, “Take it down for me. Burn it.”

“But I don’t know PK Fire-“

“Burn it!” the Mook snapped.

“Okay okay, I’ll- I’ll do that.” Arix wandered back outside. The moonlight from the several moons visible caused him to squint upon coming out, but he soon readjusted his eye to the light. He turned to face the sign outside the cave, and fired a PK Beam Alpha at it. The sign disintegrated immediately. Arix played with the ashes a little with his foot.

“That should do it,” he mumbled to himself before heading back inside the cave.

“You did it?” the old Mook asked, looking at him. He had returned to his spot in front of the screen.

“Yup,” Arix replied. “So I’m guessing you don’t do the whole superimportant intergalactic quest thing anymore? *beep*”

The old Mook simply looked back at the screen and let out a deep, long hum.

“I was going to head to Sataene, through the swamp. You got any-“

“NO!” the old Mook shrieked, his eyes wide. “You mustn’t go to- p-past the swamp! The end times lie beyond there!”

Arix laughed nervously. “Riiiight…”

“If they come together… If they try to… try to stop it… and with _them… _They’ll only make things worse!” The old Mook slithered back up to him, and put a tentacle on the side of his arm. “Please. Stay here. With me.”

The despair that filled the old Mook’s eyes unnerved Arix. He was really desperate, huh?

“Aha, sorry, but I can’t really not follow the commander’s orders,” Arix told him. “I’m already late as it is. You should *whirr* try to get some sleep. I hear that’s good for organics.”

Arix removed the old Mook’s tentacle from his arm, then waved goodbye as he left the cave. The old Mook simply watched, body limp, and eyes still full of despair.

The trip through the swamp was simple. There were some sapient growths that attacked him now and then, but they weren’t too much trouble to deal with. He arrived in Sataene quicker than he anticipated. He quickened his pace as he walked into Sataene, looking for anyone to talk to that could at least hint at where he could go next.

Just as he turned a corner, he saw a group of aliens do the same. There were five of them – two Mooks, two UFOs, and something else he couldn’t identify; it was clearly an offworlder.

“Hey, wait up!” Arix called out to them, and began to run. He teleported occasionally, just to catch up.

* * *

“So what is it that you want from me?! I already let you use my base- What, do you want to-“

“_No, Elmadan. _I have no such desires.”

“Good. I don’t have ‘em either, and I’m not about to start.”

“You have a use beyond lending us a home. If my calculations are correct… you should be the one.”

“’The one’? What the hell’s _that _supposed to mean, you weirdo?!”

“Elmadan, please. I’m trying to talk here. You should be able to give us insights on the path of action we take… but awakening those powers is no easy task. I will have to use my PSI on you.”

“Wait, _what?! _No- Hold on- You can’t just-“

“Elmadan, I need you to cooperate. The knowledge you may be able to give us will be a great asset to have.”

“…Do I need to get naked or anything for this?”

“No. But there is a chance your clothing will get ripped in some way.”

“…Well, I’ll just go thrift shopping after this if I have to. The only thing I have to lose now is my dignity, and I’ve already been well detached from it thanks to you.”

“…Shall we begin?”

“I guess so. Quick question: will this hurt?”

“A lot.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **lv wklv wudqvplvvlrq frplqj wkurxjk?**


	4. Now the Shadow Hand is Pointing Time Right Out of Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is finally all here!

Ralivil and Elmadan sat across from Anue, who had sat themself down on a strangely soft hyberpod they had identified as a “bed”. Boson and Buzzy Bol hovered to the left of them nearby.

“First, I should thank Elmadan for letting us use his base.” Anue turned their head to Elmadan and told him, “Thank you.”

“Whatever, man,” Elmadan replied, giving a quick shrug.

“Second,” Anue looked over to Buzzy Bol and asked, “Did you give the Bearer the Star?”

Buzzy Bol raised an eyebrow. “What? You never gave me anything. I’ve only known you for a few minutes.”

Anue frowned under their hood. “Strange. I thought I gave you it.”

“Maybe you gave it to someone else?” Buzzy Bol suggested. “Or dropped it. Or left it at home – wherever you live.”

Anue bit their lip. “I suppose we will have to work without it. It can be done.”

Ralivil meekly raised his right tentacle.

“Yes, Bearer?” Anue asked.

“U-Um, I have two questions. Though one’s not really a question…. Uh, first of all, why have you gathered us all here? And second, could you please stop calling me Bearer?”

Anue hummed quietly. “The reason I have gathered you all here is very important. I have seen the end of the world, as well as those who can help save it. These four I have dubbed the Timechasers, and they are you, Bearer, as well as the two UFOs present and one more we are waiting on. I shall assist you in any way possible on this quest. It is a large task to ask of you all, but together, I am sure we can succeed.”

Everyone had fallen into stunned silence. They just sat there for a few moments, not saying anything.

The first to speak up again was Elmadan. “Dude, you called him Bearer again.”

“Oh, I did? I apologise. I will do my best to not do it again,” Anue said. “What is your name again?”

“Ralivil,” Ralivil replied.

“Ralivil… Thank you. It is a wonderful name.”

Ralivil played with his tentacles as he glanced away.

There was a knock at the front door, faintly audible from downstairs. Anue stood up and said, “I will get it.”

With that, they leapt over to the stairs and bounded down them. Ralivil, Elmadan, Boson and Buzzy Bol waited in silence as Anue went to see who was at the door. They returned with a Blue Starman with some cracks near their eye and on their right arm following them.

“The last of the four Timechasers has arrived,” Anue announced. “This is Arix. He is a Starman, as you can see.”

Arix waved.

“Please introduce yourselves to him and make him feel welcome.” Anue looked at Elmadan and said, “I suppose now would be as good a time as any. Come with me, Elmadan.”

Elmadan exchanged a nervous glance with Ralivil as he stood up, then followed Anue as they led him upstairs. Everyone watched the two of them leave, then glanced around awkwardly for a couple of moments afterwards. Arix sat down on the bed that Anue had previously been sitting on.

“So uh… how is everyone?” Arix asked. His voice sounded surprisingly organic for a robot – Ralivil supposed it was the technology used to make them. It still sounded a bit blocky, though.

“We’ve been set up to save the _world,_” Ralivil frowned, growling his last word out.

“Oh… *click* …that’s something that’s happening, isn’t it.”

“Wow, this conversation is off to a terrible start!” Buzzy Bol exclaimed. “I’m gonna try lighten things up a bit. I’m Buzzy Bol! Next to me is my pal Boson, and the green Mook over there is Ralivil!”

Ralivil meekly waved to Arix.

“It’s nice to meet you all. I’m Arix- Wait, didn’t that hooded person already…?”

Boson nodded.

“Dang. Well, anyway, I’m only here on my commander’s orders. *beep* I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing, but I’m sure I’ll figure it out if I stick with you guys!” Arix said.

“Good to have ya on board, buddy-o!” Boson smiled. “I have the feelin’ that we’ll be getting into some major slam jams; what kind of moves ya packin’?”

“Just the usual PK Beams – up to Beta,” Arix replied.

Buzzy Bol’s eyes lit up with excitement, and Boson nodded.

Arix then added, “If any of you happen to come *click* across any discs, just hand them to me. They might have a PK move I could download into my system.”

Ralivil nodded, and Buzzy Bol extended a metal arm to give a thumbs up.

A sudden surge of PSI energy startled everyone, almost knocking Ralivil out of his chair.

Once Boson had gotten his UFO stable in the air, he exclaimed, “What the hell was that?!”

“That didn’t feel like any regular PSI I’m aware of,” Arix commented. “That was likely from the hooded person.”

“From Anue? Well that makes sense,” Buzzy Bol said, glancing at the door upstairs with worry.

“What if they killed Elmadan?!” Ralivil suggested, bringing in his arms to his front.

Arix hummed in thought, then said, “Killed? No, I don’t think so. I haven’t been around them long, but that doesn’t seem like something they would do.”

Ralivil sighed with relief, though there was still a part of him that feared the worst. The four Timechasers sat in an awkward silence as some weird drone filled the room above them. It was barely audible from where they sat, but it was still strange nonetheless.

Just a minute after that, Anue came into the room and bounced over to the bed. They stared at Arix for a moment, then sat down beside him. A few moments later, Elmadan entered the room. He looked much worse for wear than Anue did, spiking Ralivil’s anxiety. His clothes were torn; his left sleeve had just been ripped right off, and there was a jarring lack of sunglasses on him. The eye on his face was both a pastel red and green, with the green being at the bottom half of his iris. The left eyestalk eye was just red, and the right eyestalk eye was just green.

Elmadan trudged up behind Ralivil and leaned over, asking in a hushed voice, “Hey, you’re from Satralia, right?”

Ralivil nodded.

“Are there any, like, second-hand stores up that way?”

“Nooo… sorry.”

Elmadan sighed, then muttered, “That’s cool, too.”

He sat back down in his chair next to Ralivil.

Anue spoke up again, saying to everyone, “In order to stop the end of the world, we will need to travel across the solar system and ensure that time’s flow is stable on each planet. We will do this by going to eight special places called Points of Power. There are two on Saturn nearby; they shouldn’t be too hard to claim. While two of you claim these Points of Power, I will do my best to acquire a ship for us.”

“So where are these Points of Power?” Ralivil asked.

“One is in the nearby swamp, and the other is to the northwest of here in the canyon,” Anue told him. “Arix, Boson, I want you two to claim the Point of Power in the swamp. Ralivil, Buzzy Bol, you two can claim the one in the canyons.”

Ralivil nodded, then stood up. He looked over at Buzzy Bol with his upper eyes, and the light pink UFO followed as he made his way out of the room and down the stairs.

Arix said, “Right. We’ll get going right away.”

Arix and Boson then left the room after Ralivil and Buzzy Bol.

Once the Timechasers had all left the room, Anue looked at Elmadan and told him, “Myself, I will be looking for a ship for us to travel in. Please remain here.”

Elmadan gave a tired “mm-hmm” as he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. Only moments later, when Anue was just about to go out the door, he sat up and stared at them for a moment.

“I’ve got a migraine all of a sudden,” he told them.

Anue looked at Elmadan over their shoulder. “Why are you telling me this?”

“No one else to tell.”

“Ah. Fair enough.” They turned back to the door, but didn’t move. After a short while, they muttered, “I too have a migraine all of a sudden.”

Elmadan sat there with a looked of confusion on his face before muttering, “Dude, whaaaaat?”

Anue looked back at Elmadan again. “I said, I too-“

“No no, I heard what you said,” Elmadan told Anue. “It’s just really weird that we both have migraines all of a sudden at the same time. Is it because of that… _thing _you did upstairs?”

“I can’t imagine it would be. I simply awakened your powers. I did not forge any bond between our souls.”

“Then… what is it?”

“…The end of time has already begun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **crk cxzqp  
oxifsfi exp x cbxo lc ebfdeqp  
ylplk exp 50 pfyifkdp  
yrwwv yli fp qeb vlrkdbpq lc qeb clro  
xofu exp kbsbo ybbk xkv dlla xq dbjqefbsbp**


	5. I Cease to See You When I Start to Shut My Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ralivil and Buzzy Bol go to claim one of the Points of Power, and something very out of the ordinary happens in the process.

The trek to the Point of Power in the canyons was a long one. It wasn’t necessarily hard, it just took a while. Ralivil refused to use his PSI, and Buzzy Bol’s own PSI was limited to PSI Shield Alpha. Then again, Buzzy Bol completely understood why Ralivil didn’t want to use his PSI – he had seen the scene where it fired up.

The now-sentient gemblooms, the sparks of life from the crumbling ground of Saturn’s rings and the UFOs that were hanging around and wouldn’t leave kept coming at them and attacking them, and it was now that Ralivil really wished for two things. One, to be able to have control over his PSI. Two, to be able to use Lifeup.

“Hey, don’t worry about it so much,” Buzzy Bol reassured him after bringing it up. “It’s unfair to think you’d have perfect control over PSI when you’ve only had it for a day. And hey, maybe the Point of Power will help you get some control over it!”

After dealing with a particularly annoying pair of UFOs, the two of them entered a cave in a cliff. Inside said cave was a startling amount of Mr. Sickos. They shuffled about, their eyes tinted red and the bags under them sagging. Their whiskers had gone crooked as well.

“Eugh! So _that’s _what Mr. Saturns with the Sicko virus look like?!” Buzzy Bol exclaimed.

“Yeah… It’s gross,” Ralivil replied.

Buzzy Bol drifted further inside the cave, looking around at its walls. “I’m guessing Elmadan put all the Mr. Sickos here. If the rumours I’ve heard about them are anywhere near true, I can’t imagine they would willingly group together.”

A Mr. Sicko from behind him growled, then leapt up at him. Buzzy Bol yelped as the Mr. Sicko nose-dived directly onto the top of his UFO and slammed it onto the cave floor. Ralivil ran over and picked the Mr. Sicko up. He hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, before throwing the Mr. Sicko at the wall behind him. He then lifted up Buzzy Bol and asked, “Are you okay?!”

“A little shaken, yeah, but I’m fine.” Buzzy Bol replied. He then levitated out of Ralivil’s tentacles, then backed away from him a bit.

The Mr. Sicko was still intent on defeating the duo. It snarled at them as it edged closer. Buzzy Bol fired a stock-standard beam at it, knocking it back and dealing some damage. The Mr. Sicko went limp.

“I think that might’ve done it,” Buzzy Bol said. “But I thought it would be more versatile than that. Did you attack it at any point?”

“I, uh… I threw it at the wall,” Ralivil replied.

“Oh. Okay. That must have been a really good throw.”

Buzzy Bol glanced around the cave, then looked back at Ralivil and told him, “C’mon. We should hurry and get to that Point of Power before any more Mr. Sickos decide to fight us.”

* * *

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol were expecting something more… grandiose from the Point of Power. But no, before them was a tree trunk with an inexplicable aura that both surged with power and filled them with a soothing warmth. They tentatively approached the treetrunk and stared at it, frowning with confusion.

“Okay, so, we’re here… now what?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“Try touching it?” Ralivil suggested.

Seeing no better idea, Buzzy Bol hopped out of his UFO and flew down onto the treetrunk. His entire body went stiff for a few seconds. Once his body loosened, he glanced around before flying back over to his UFO and getting back inside it.

“Well.”

Ralivil stared at Buzzy Bol for a couple of moments before cocking his head slightly.

Buzzy Bol stared back before telling him, “Well are you gonna touch it?”

Ralivil turned his stare to the treetrunk. After many long moments, he looked back at Buzzy Bol and asked, “What happened when _you _touched it?”

“This weird power went through me. I dunno if it was a good weird or a bad weird, but…” Buzzy Bol’s eyes were set on the cave floor as he took a long breath in. He exhaled as he concluded, “I got a new PSI move out of it. It’s safe, at least.”

Ralivil looked back at the treetrunk, then hesitantly edged towards it after a couple of moments. He touched it, and for just a second, nothing happened. Then, there was a jolt up his arm. The starnge energy of the treetrunk sped to the Prophet’s Mark. At first, the energy that had gathered at the Mark was a just a tingling sensation, but it turned into a pain that Ralivil couldn’t ignore. He instinctively curled his right tentacle, and put the left one over the Prophet’s Mark.

“Ralivil, are you okay?” Buzzy Bol asked, his eyes wide with shock.

Ralivil couldn’t muster a reply. The pain from the Prophet’s Mark was too much to bear. He simply grunted in pain as he held back the tears that stung his lower eye. The corners of his vision started to go white.

“Ralivil! Ralivil, can you try to answer me? You don’t have to use words! Ralivil?” The shock on Buzzy Bol’s face had turned to fear, though Ralivil found it hard to make out the details of anything around him now. “Ohhh stars, maybe we shouldn’t have put so much trust in Anue… Ralivil? RALIVIL?”

It was hard to even hear Buzzy Bol now. Anything that hadn’t been absorbed by the white in his vision was no more than a colourful splotch. Ralivil shut his eyes right, and the white flooded his vision.

The pain from the Prophet’s Mark faded. Ralivil opened up his lower eye, and cast a glance around. Nothing but white as far as he could see. He tentatively lifted his left tentacle off the Prophet’s Mark, and lowered both tentacles to his sides. He then opened up his upper eyes, and looked around. Still nothing but white.

The white began to fade to a cave, but instead of it being the one he and Buzzy Bol had found the treetrunk in, this one was completely unfamiliar. A green Mook sat on a sanded rock, made to function as a chair. Ralivil knew from cavehunting that sanding rocks to be used as chairs was a common practice back in the 1940’s. An older hyberpod model sat against the far wall, and what appeared to be a homemade crib sat a short distance away from it against the wall to the left of it. However he ended up here, this was either an older cave that hadn’t gotten new furniture in a while, or he was in the 1940’s.

The green Mook, who had a sombre look on her face, looked down at the baby Mook who was crawling about on the floor. The baby didn’t seem to know what was bothering his mother, as he giggled happily as he inched closer to the entrance of the cave. It was then that Ralivil noticed something – this baby was _blue._

“I-Is that- the Prophet?!” Ralivil exclaimed aloud. His voice didn’t feel like it came from his own mouth, though, but rather, it echoed from all around.

The baby Mook looked up, his eyes wide and full of wonder. He then crawled as quickly as he could a couple of paces, then made a series of excited noises as he looked up at Ralivil.

“You- …You can _see me?_” Ralivil asked. Only when he finished his question did he realise it would be pointless to try and talk to a baby.

The baby giggled, then sat down and began sucking one of his lower left tentacles. Gross. Ralivil crouched down at stared at him. The baby didn’t seem to care that another green Mook was in his cave – maybe he thought he was his father? He hoped not.

“I guess… I’m supposed to say something to you now?” Ralivil asked. He got no reply. He sighed, then told the baby, “Listen. This is gonna sound strange, but there will come a time in your life when you have to fight harder than you ever have before. You’re gonna do some great things, Prophet. You’re gonna…” Ralivil glanced away as he blinked away the tears forming in his lower eye. “…You’re gonna save your entire galaxy.”

The baby had silently watched as Ralivil spoke to him, then gave a wide, toothless smile once he finished. He giggled again.

Ralivil closed his eyes as he sighed again. “Right. You can’t understand a thing I say.”

“Uh, yeah I can.”

Ralivil’s eyes shot open. He glanced around to see that he was back in the cave with the treetrunk in it, and Buzzy Bol staring at him. Ralivil then stared wide eyed at Buzzy Bol.

“You were just standing there with this weird, faraway look in your eyes and the Prophet’s Mark was glowing. And then you started muttering some random stuff,” Buzzy Bol explained. “I’m guessing you weren’t talking to me, but it was still really weird.”

Ralivil was still for a moment, before sighing. “It… It _was _weird.” He looked at the cave entrance and said, “We should just… head back to Sataene for now. It’ll probably be best if I tell all of you what I saw.”

* * *

Arix and Boson had already returned to Elmadan’s base by the time Ralivil and Buzzy Bol returned. They were sitting on the bed, and had been having a chill conversation when the latter party returned. Elmadan sat in the same spot Ralivil had last seen him in, though Anue was nowhere to be found.

“Hey yo duuuuuuuuudes! How’s it hangin’?” Boson greeted them as they came into the room.

“Alright,” Buzzy Bol replied.

“…Mhm,” Ralivil added.

“Did your trip to the Point of Power go well? *beep*” Arix asked.

“Took a while to get there, but we made it,” Buzzy Bol told him, sitting to the right of Boson.

“Good to hear it went well. The last thing we need is, well. Things not going well,” Elmadan said. “Anue should be back at any moment with your new ship.”

Boson cheered. Buzzy Bol and Ralivil especially were too tired to make a big fuss, and Arix was just naturally quiet.

As if on cue, a low rumbling, muffled by the walls and floors around and above them, filled the air. It stopped after a few moments.

“That must be them! C’mon, let’s go see it!” Boson took off to the roof.

Arix was the first to follow, then followed by Buzzy Bol and Elmadan. Ralivil practically had to force his tentacles to work.

A spaceship was now parked at the roof, and Anue stood in front of the ship’s dropdown ladder.

“Hot dog!!! I’ve never been on a ship like this before!!!” Boson exclaimed. He looked at Anue and asked him, “Where’d you get it, broski?”

“The spaceship store.”

An awkward silence hung in the air before Buzzy Bol broke the silence. “SO! When me and Ralivil went to the Point of Power in the canyons, Ralivil had something weird happen to him! He said he wanted to tell everyone.”

“Oh! I… I did, didn’t it?”

Anue cocked his head slightly. “Go on, then.”

“Well, when I touched the Point of Power, there was this weird surge of energy that went through my arm and to the Prophet’s Mark, and then it started hurting really bad, and then everything went white and then I somehow travelled back in time and through dimensions to when the Prophet was a baby. I talked to him a bit and then Buzzy Bol helped me snap out of it,” Ralivil explained.

Arix whirred before saying, “Interesting. Perhaps we should make a visit to the Point of Power Boson and I visited to see if anything similar happens?”

“No,” Anue replied. “Time is of the essence, and we musn’t delay with such ventures. What’s done is done, and the Points of Power present on this planet have been visited. Now come, we must make haste to Jupiter.”

Anue hopped up the ladder and into the ship.

Buzzy Bol extended an arm, and called out, “But-!”

Elmadan shrugged. “In the short time I’ve known them, I’ve learned it’s best to just go along with what they say.”

Buzzy Bol turned to look at him, eyebrows turned up with concern. “Yeah, but…”

“Just trust me.” Elmadan headed over to the ladder and said, “Come on! You heard them, we gotta ship out to Jupiter.”

With that, Elmadan climbed aboard the ship. The Timechasers exchanged glances, then shrugged and followed suit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **yzgxz hkotm yayvoiouay**   
**tuznotm gtj tu utk gxk gy znke ykks**


	6. And I Forget That I Had Said My Last Goodbyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers arrive on Jupiter and find they've been beaten to the punch.

The inside of the ship was a lot smaller than the outside would have denoted. There was only one hyberpod present on the ship, which was cosied up next to the left wall. The controls and the only window present were located at the front of the ship.

Anue had already taken up a spot to the left of the control panel. They stood perfectly still and watched as Elmadan and the Timechasers came in one after another. If they hadn’t known any better, they would have thought Anue was a statue with how still they were standing.

Elmadan sat beside the hyberpod. He let out a quiet sigh as he slid down onto the floor.

“So, what do you all think?” Anue asked.

“It’s… a ship?” Ralivil replied.

“It’s… great…!” Boson added.

Buzzy Bol had already hovered up to the control panel and had started tapping away at it. He brought up the preinstalled map of the solar system and looked it over for a second.

“…WHERE’S NEPTUNE?!”

Buzzy Bol’s shout alerted everyone else aboard the ship.

Boson frowned. “What do you mean, ‘where’s Neptune?’”

“It’s GONE!” Buzzy Boll exclaimed. “It’s just… not there anymore! Take a look for yourself!”

Boson flew over to Buzzy Bol’s side and looked at the map. He was silent for a moment before saying, “Actually, yo, where is it.”

“EXACTLY!”

Arix and Ralivil came over and looked for themselves. Sure enough, Neptune was nowhere to be found on the map. Instead, there was a small part of the map that was glitching out where Neptune would usually be.

“Maybe this ship is *click* one of those used ones they sell sometimes,” Arix suggested.

“This ship is not second-hand, it is just an older model. Neptune should be there… Unless…” Anue shook their head. “No. It does not matter now. Let us just continue onward to Jupiter.”

“But shouldn’t we see if Neptune is okay?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“No. Time is of the essence.”

Buzzy Bol sighed, then started up the ship. It growled to life, then slowly rose into the air. Buzzy Bol glanced at the Timechasers around him.

“Could you guys… just… move… like, somewhere else, please?” he asked. “I can’t focus with people looking over my shoulder.”

The others understood, then moved away from the control panel and Buzzy Bol. There was quiet thumping noise from the roof as the ship’s growling softened and ascended into the stars. Ralivil could only assume that the thumping was from the ship itself. It couldn’t have been from anything from Saturn; even the Mr. Sickos weren’t crazy enough to jump onto a moving ship…

The trip to Jupiter took a lot longer than Ralivil had thought. Boson knew it would take a while, but simply wasn’t very patient, Arix knew it would take a few hours _and _had all the patience of the Timechasers, Buzzy Bol and Elmadan couldn’t care about how long it would take and just wanted to rest (Elmadan did. He climbed into the hyberpod he sat down beside after telling Ralivil that), and Anue… seemed anxious. It was hard to tell, with their hood and general mysteriousness, but Ralivil couldn’t shake the feeling that they were worrying.

The ship didn’t have an autopilot feature, so Buzzy Bol was at the control panel for the entire four-and-a-half-hour trip. He had requested Anue to give him a word every once and a while, just to keep himself awake and alert. Anue had done so without hesitation. It did seem to help. Boson had offered to play a card game with Ralivil and Arix, but the cards he had were made for insectoids. As Boson had put it, bummer.

The trip was long and uneventful, and it felt like Buzzy Bol was the bringer of world-saving news when he announced that they had arrived on Jupiter. The other Timechasers wearily cheered.

“You four go down to Jupiter and find the Point of Power there,” Anue told them. “I will stay here and make sure Elmadan is okay when he awakens.”

Ralivil nodded, then exited the ship, the other Timechasers following. Once they were on the green clouds of Jupiter, he looked at the others for a bit longer than comfortable. He then cocked his head and asked, “You’re all following _me?_”

“You’re the leader,” Boson replied.

Ralivil looked back at the road in front of him as he frowned. He continued walking regardless.

After the first couple of steps he took, he could have sworn he heard something from on the ship’s roof. Like something scuttling about. He dismissed it as another one of the Prophet’s Mark’s strange doings.

Jupiter itself… was not what anyone was expecting. Boson knew the names of the things that lived there – and none of them were acting the way they should have. The Airpuffs froze for seconds, sometimes just a couple, sometimes just about for a minute, then suddenly teleported to a nearby spot as though they had been moving the whole time. The Crazed Cacti’s eyes were filled with a strange static that glitched at a near constant rate. It hurt just to look at them. And sometimes, the Cacti would freeze for a few seconds too.

And then Arix wondered aloud, “Is this happening to us too, *whirr* or are we immune to it?”

The Timechasers climbed down the rope that led to Bolos. The town… was empty. At a first glance, it seemed that like Satralia, the townspeople had shut themselves inside their homes.

A shout came from their left. “Look! There’s the rebel the captain was telling us about! *click*”

Another shout followed. “Stop right there!”

Two Starmen, a Blue Starman and a Ghost of Starman, teleported up to them.

“Thought you’d get some Saturnians to protect you, huh?” the Ghost of Starman scowled.

“No, I am travelling with them. *beep*” Arix explained. "We are trying to save the wor-“

The Blue Starman fired a PK Beam at his feet. Arix barely managed to step out of the way.

“Yeah right! That kinda bull is exactly what the captain said you’d spout! *whirr*” the Blue Starman said.

The Ghost of Starman looked over at the Blue Starman. “Should we take them out?”

“Hell yeah we should!” The Blue Starman raised a fist and shouted, “For Captain Deepsea!”

The Blue Starman shot another PK Beam at Arix, hitting him right in the chest. Boson extended a metallic arm from his UFO, and threw a bomb at the two opposing Starmen. They suffered a fair amount of damage, but still had a lot more beating down to get. Buzzy Bol cast a PSI Shield over Arix, then fired a beam at the Blue Starman. Boson followed up with another bomb. The Blue Starman was finding it hard to stay on their feet now. The Ghost of Starman raised a hand as the sky grew dark. Two bolts of PK Thunder came down from the darkened sky, the first hitting Arix, the second hitting Boson. Ralivil looked at one of his hands, then up at the opposing Starmen.

As he held out a hand and squeezed his eyes shut, Ralivil murmured, “Please don’t be as bad as last time…”

Ralivil felt a pain similar to the one he felt back in front of the protest in the Saturn canyons, but softer. Power surged from the Prophet’s Mark and to his hand. A sharp coldness came out, and Ralivil felt the air around him get significantly colder. Icicles formed around the two opposing Starmen, holding them down in place. A burst of raw psychic power erupted from Ralivil’s hand, and soft flash of pink followed light blue lines and geometric shapes served only as the visuals to the attack that bombarded the two Starmen. Once the lightshow was over, Ralivil dared to open his lower eye as the opposing Blue Starman toppled over. A glitchy mess surrounded the Blue Starman, and once it cleared, they were gone.

The Ghost of Starman refused to go down so easily, though. Though they should have been dead by now, they insisted on standing up. They held out their hands for a PK Beam, but some sort of… jolt hit and stopped them. They were then covered by the same glitches the Blue Starman was, then disappeared.

From the top of the rope the Timechasers had climbed down from, a familiar voice asked, “Are you all okay?”

The Timechasers turned and looked up to see who it was. “Anue!!!”

Anue jumped down from the higher cloud and delicately landed in front of the four Timechasers.

“Didn’t you say you were gonna stay in the ship?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“Elmadan is fine. But I sensed a great danger outside, and I left to make sure you were okay,” Anue told them. They looked at Ralivil and told him, “Ralivil… I did not know you held that kind of power.”

Ralivil’s face heated up as he realised that Anue had been watching the fight. His upper eyes glanced away as he replied, “Me neither!”

“So, what kind of power _is _it, anyway?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“It’s certainly nothing I’ve ever seen before *click*,” Arix added.

“Its name varies from wielder to wielder,” Anue told them, “but it is always fuelled by intense emotion. With different emotion comes different manifestations. There is a certain kind, I’ve heard, that has use outside of battle. I do not know what kind of emotion powers this one, however.”

“Aight, that’s cool and all, buuuuut…” Boson turned to where the two Starmen the Timechasers had been fighting and asked, “What was with those Starmen? That… weird stuff. That was really crazy.”

Anue hummed in thought. They took a couple of steps forward. “…Leakage.”

The Timechasers let out a “huh?” in unison as they set their eyes on Anue.

“Leakage,” Anue repeated. They sounded… upset, this time.

“But… there is no water sources around here?” Arix said.

“Not a water leakage, Arix. Leakage… from the RPG-maker.”

There was only one question on the Timechasers’ minds, but Boson was the one to ask it. “Dude, what’s the… the that?”

“The Reality Pathfinder Generator-maker – the RPG-maker – is a powerful machine capable of locating alternate dimensions and points in time and generating pathways to them. I can only assume its misuse has caused it to leak out into our world and corrupt it. The RPG-maker is what is causing the end of time – and our world.”

Silence.

And then, another voice rang out from above them. “And there’s _nothing – **NOTHING, I SAY – **_any of you can do to stop it!”

The Timechasers and Anue looked up at who had spoken. An elderly, off white Mook glared at them from the cloud above Bolos.

Arix let out a robotic gasp. “Old Mook from the swamp! *beep* …It’s Malik, right?”

The old Mook nodded. “Though names barely matter to me anymore.”

“I thought you were going to stay in your home and… not go near the end times? *click*” Arix asked.

Malik heaved out a sigh. “You’ve… You’ve all gathered… If any chance remains of this world’s saving… It’s ME! I wasn’t going to sit around _twiddling my tentacles _any longer!”

Arix took a step towards Malik. “Hey. Come on. *whirr* It doesn’t have to be like this. You… can stay with us! We have a ship! You could stay there and help us! …Please.”

Malik squinted at Arix for a few moments. He then climbed down the rope to Bolos, and slithered right up to him. Anue, Buzzy Bol and Boson moved out of Malik’s way as he approached Arix. Malik continued squinting at Arix for a few more moments.

“I already know of your ship. That’s how I got here,” he told him.

Buzzy Bol frowned. “But you weren’t on board-“

“ON THE ROOF!” Malik snapped. He held eye contact with Buzzy Bol for a few moments before returning his attention to Arix. “I refuse to stay aboard that thing any longer than I did.”

He slithered a short distance into Bolos, and away from the group, and cast a glance over his shoulder. “I leave you, the horsemen, to Death themself. You’ve already made your choice.”

Malik then ran away, through Bolos and into the cloud fields between it and Anolin.

“Wait!” Arix called out. He was too late to stop him, though. He looked out in the direction Malik had gone, concern written on his face. “I never asked if he got some sleep…”

“I don’t know about you, Arix, but I’m mostly concerned about that last part he said,” Ralivil said. “Ignoring the fact I don’t know what a horseman is, who’s Death in this situation? And we’ve ‘already made our choice’? What is that supposed to mean?”

Buzzy Bol and Boson hummed in agreement.

“Regardless. Continue forward to Jupiter’s Point of Power. It is in a cave with a complex tunnel system to the south,” Anue told the Timechasers.

“Riiiight…” Buzzy Bol said. “We’ll be on out way, I guess.”

Ralivil cast a worried glance to Anue, then shrugged, and led the other Timechasers on their way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **gsvb lmxv xzoovw srn z tvmrfh**   
**yfg gslhv wzbh szev yvvm ovug olmt yvsrmw**


	7. Quickly I Reopen Them and Bid You All "Cheerio, My Friend"

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers reach the Red Eye. Ralivil has a conversation with a certain blue Mook.

The trek to Jupiter’s Point of Power was arduous. The Airpuffs kept ambushing them by way of teleporting right by them once they unfroze from time. The Crazed Cacti were easily avoided, but occasionally one would be close enough to smack a Timechaser and drag all of them into a fight. And _somehow,_ word had already gotten out that they were on the planet, and more of Captain Deepsea’s Starmen were patrolling the paths between Bolos and Anolin and attacking them if they even so much as saw them out of the corner of their eyes.

“So I guess… this is what time ending looks like?” Buzzy Bol wondered aloud as the quartet made their way south.

“It seems so,” Arix replied.

“What else could it possibly _be?!_” Boson questioned, spinning around to face Arix as he continued to follow Ralivil.

“Listen, I… I know that we’re all a little shaken from all the fighting and Malik, but can we all try to focus on the positives?” Ralivil asked.

Boson sighed as he spun back around.

“We’re getting closer to the Point of Power, I think,” Ralivil said.

And sure enough, they were. The Timechasers had entered a small area to the south where there were no enemies to be seen, and a cave entrance. They went inside the cave to be greeted with darkness. It should have been no surprise, but given that the caves that held the last two Points of Power were strangely bright, it did catch them off guard.

“Hey Ralivil, I just thought of a positive,” Buzzy Bol suddenly said as the four Timechasers stood in the mouth of the cave.

“Yeah?”

“Maybe the last Point of Power we visited _did _give you better control over your PSI! I dunno what that last thing was, but it wasn’t disastrous like the first time you used it!”

“Oh yeah! That is nice, isn’t it?”

Boson extended one of his UFO’s metal arms. A battery powered torch was firmly held in its hand. He clicked it on, and a beam of light filled the cave.

“Never thought I’d actually have to use this old thing,” Boson commented, glancing at the torch in his UFO’s hand.

“Oh yeah, didn’t you find that thing in some dump of earth garbage, or something?” Buzzy Bol inquired.

“Yup.” Boson then frowned as he said, “I dunno how long it’ll last, though. Earth tech ain’t that flash.”

Boson took to the front of the party of four and led them through the maze of tunnels. His torch pierced through the darkness of the cave, but it didn’t help the fact that he had no idea where he was going. Arix suggested that they try backtracking to the start to the maze, but the Timechasers were so hopelessly lost that they all agreed it would be better to keep going forward instead of going back and getting more lost in the process.

It took what felt like an eternity to find the exit. Maybe it was. There wasn’t a sure-fire way to tell now. But when they all saw the light coming from the end of the tunnel, they all let out weary cheers. Their paces picked up a little as they continued onward. Boson turned off the torch and retracted the arm holding it back into his UFO.

The Timechasers now stood on a green cloud overlooking Red Eye. It glowed continuously, even with the deteriorating seconds stopping and starting the winds. Like the previous Points of Power they had visited, it filled them with both strength and relaxation. Boson and Buzzy Bol hovered up to the edge of the green cloud and peered over it, taking a good look at the Red Eye. Buzzy Bol was the first to climb out of his UFO to absorb the Red Eye’s power. Boson followed suit. They both went stiff for a few seconds, then took a few moments to shake out their limbs before climbing back inside their UFOs.

As Boson and Buzzy Bol returned to the other two Timechasers, the latter whispered to Ralivil, “It’ll be okay.”

Ralivil gave Buzzy Bol an uncertain glance. Buzzy Bol simply extended one of his UFO’s arms to give him a thumbs up. Ralivil put on a small smile.

As Ralivil edged toward the edge of the cloud, Buzzy Bol turned his attention to Boson and Arix and told them, “Okay guys, Ralivil’s reaction to the Points of Power is way different than ours, so try not to freak out.”

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of light erupted from the Prophet’s Mark on Ralivil’s back, grabbing the other three’s attention. The winds began to howl.

“That flash didn’t happen last time!” Buzzy Bol exclaimed.

“Maybe it’s from the Red Eye’s own glow?” *click*” Arix suggested.

Ralivil had curled his right tentacle and covered the Prophet’s Mark with his left again. While he had experienced the pain before and he knew what to expect, it didn’t hurt any less than the last time. The corners of his vision were starting to go white again.

“That looks mega nasty,” Boson commented. He looked over at Buzzy Bol and asked, “Are you _sure _he’ll be fine, dog?”

“Nothing bad happened the first time, I’m sure this time won’t be any different,” Buzzy Bol assured him.

Ralivil could barely hear the otherwise howling winds around the Red Eye now. The white had almost filled his vision entirely, and although he knew that closing his eyes would do nothing, he did so anyway. The white filled his vision once more.

A few moments passed, and then the pain subsided. Ralivil released the tension that had built up in his body, letting his tentacles fall beside his body, then opened his eyes. The white remained for a few seconds, then faded away.

He was back on Saturn again. Back on the rings. Back home. Judging from the position of the moons and the stars, it was about midday. Mr. Saturn houses sat in the distance, but there weren’t even caves for living in nearby. The Mr. Saturn houses didn’t look too old. Whenever he was, it couldn’t have been many more than ten years back. Ralivil looked around for the blue Mook he had seen last time. He had to be around, right?

Said Mook slithered into Ralivil’s view, his eyes scanning the ground as he passed by. He had grown a lot since Ralivil had last seen him. He appeared to be about seven now. Still young. His right tentacle was clenched, and he looked troubled by something. He didn’t know why, or how, but deep down, Ralivil knew he had to try and find out. Or at least reassure him that everything would be okay.

“Um… excuse me?” Ralivil asked. His voice echoed around him, causing him to shiver a little.

The blue Mook straightened and went stiff, then looked over his shoulder at Ralivil, eyes wide.

“I thought… there would be no one else here…” the blue Mook murmured, glancing away.

“Oh- No- It’s okay! It’s okay it’s okay it’s okay, I’m not going to tell you off or anything,” Ralivil reassured him, taking a small step towards the blue Mook.

The blue Mook looked back at him, doubtful. “P… Promise?”

Ralivil gave him a small smile. “Promise.”

The blue Mook didn’t smile back, but seemed to be put at ease. He looked back at the ground and continued to slither around. He stuck close to Ralivil. Ralivil watched as he frowned at the ground.

“Are you looking for something?” Ralivil finally asked.

The blue Mook looked up at Ralivil and told him, “Dropped Bowbucks. There was a music festival here and it ended last night… I’m looking for dropped Bowbucks so Mom won’t be so stressed.” He glanced away as he added in a mumble, “It’s the least I can do.”

“How many do you have so far?” Ralivil asked.

The blue Mook opened up his right tentacle to reveal a handful of small coins with a Saturnian B engraved on them. “Four.” He looked back down at the ground and murmured to himself, “Maybe the rest all fell through the ground…”

The blue Mook clenched his right tentacle again and continued searching for dropped Bowbucks anyway. Ralivil watched. He didn’t know how to comfort the blue Mook. Not anymore. He thought it would be a lot simpler than this.

“Do you have any family who could help you?” Ralivil asked. Internally, he bashed himself for the potential sore spot he may have just hit.

“Yeah, but Mom doesn’t want to,” the blue Mook replied. “She’s never told me why, but I already know. I’m blue, and Mom doesn’t want to make the rest of my family mad at her.”

Silence. A long, empty silence. Now Ralivil only felt _worse._

The blue Mook paused, then looked up at Ralivil. “Wait, what’s your name?”

That… was actually smart of the blue Mook. He didn’t know it, but Ralivil _would _be seeing him again. He didn’t know how old the other Mook would be by then, but he knew that this wasn’t the last time a meeting like this would happen.

“…Ralivil,” he replied. It was a dangerous move, telling the blue Mook his name; who knew what sort of dimensional collapse he could have brought on from that single word.

“Cool. I won’t tell anyone about you, but I’ll remember you,” the blue Mook replied. He paused before adding with a small, sincere smile, “…Thanks.”

Ralivil didn’t know what for, maybe it was just for lending an ear, but regardless, he closed his eyes as he smiled back. “No problem.”

He opened his eyes again to find himself back at the Red Eye. He looked around to regain his bearings, then looked over his shoulder at the rest of the Timechasers.

“You all done there?” Buzzy Bol asked.

“Yup!” Ralivil replied.

As he walked back over to his group, Arix pointed to a gust of air blowing through the cloud. “We can use that gust to get back up to the main paths and continue onward. *click* Where and what onward is… I don’t know. It may be a bit hard to get up there, with time the way it is…”

Boson and Buzzy Bol flew up to the main path without a problem, though Ralivil and Arix had to step on the gust of even try and get up. It worked for Ralivil on his first go, but Arix had a bit of trouble. He ended up stepping on it several times before he suddenly got shot up into the air and landed face first on the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **jlob crk cxzqp**   
**xkrb pbzobqiv ifhbp bxoqe qefkdp**   
**bijxaxk albpk’q hklt texq’p exmmbkfkd**   
**lqebo qefkdp jxifh exp jxab fkzirab xk fjjloqxifqv zxmprib eb’p kbsbo ybbk xyib ql obzobxqb xka x jxzefkb zxmxyib lc dfsfkd vlr x crii kfdeq’p pibbm fk pbzlkap**   
**qeb alzqlo albpk’q bufpq fk qefp qfjbifkb**


	8. This Goes On For Hours and it Never Seems to End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers get pulled up by a certain Starman Deluxe, but not everything is what it seems...

Arix gingerly lifted himself off the ground and stood up. Boson chuckled under his breath as he did so, earning a frown from Ralivil. Once Arix had regained his composure, he looked behind the other Timechasers, then screamed. The other three let out a collective “huh?” as they turned around to see what had caused Arix to panic, them screamed as well.

Anue was standing before them, still as ever, and probably not seeing what was bothering them.

“Geez, what is your problem, dude?!” Boson exclaimed.

“You can’t just _not _tell us that you’ll be coming here and then scare the crap out of us when you do!” Buzzy Bol added in the same exasperated tone.

“My apologies. I simply wanted to know if your trip to the Point of Power was successful,” Anue stated.

“Yeah,” Buzzy Bol replied.

“And your new PSI techniques?”

Boson raised an eyebrow, “Yo, I don’t think Ralivil and Bol should waste PP when they’re not in battle.”

Anue quietly sighed. “Very well. Now, I also wanted to inform you of your next steps. While making my way here, I found this.” Anue lifted an arm out from underneath their hooded cloak to reveal a blue ID card in their hand. “This is a Deepsea ID. It is used to gain access to Captain Deepsea’s ships. You are to use it to go to the Point of Power on one of these ships, the Hagbard.”

“…Why is there a Point of Power on the _Hagbard?_” Arix questioned.

“Unfortunately, I do not know everything. Come.” Anue walked off, beckoning for the Timechasers to follow him with his tail.

* * *

The ship was just as cramped as it was before. Elmadan was still in the hyberpod he had climbed in when the team took off on Saturn, and had woken up while the Timechasers were away. He sat inside it and leaned over the edge of it. His eyelids were very droopy, and he barely lifted his head when the Timechasers entered.

“Hey Elmadan,” Buzzy Bol casually greeted him.

“Heyyy,” Elmadan drowsily replied.

Ralivil looked over at Elmadan with a smile of concern. “Are you okay? You sound tired.”

Elmadan wearily closed his eyes as he said, “Yeahhhh. I’m gettin’ used to it though. Didn… Didn’ expect travelling with you guys to get so,” he let out a quiet yawn, then finished, “tiring.”

“He will be fine. You needn’t worry about him,” Anue told the Timechasers.

Buzzy Bol drifted up to the ship’s control panel and started it. Once the engine was rumbling, Buzzy Bol asked Anue, “Where to from here?”

“North-east. Last I heard, the Hagbard was headed to Mars. Check around there,” they replied.

No one knew how long the trip to the Hagbard would take. They all figured it would take about the same amount of time the trip to Jupiter took. Elmadan fell asleep again, and Anue… who knew with Anue.

Just over an hour into the voyage, a shrill ringing sounded from the control panel. It alerted everyone inside, even waking up Elmadan.

Buzzy Bol looked down at the control panel. “’Incoming transmission’?! …A ship this old has a transmission channel?”

“Answer it,” Anue said.

Buzzy Bol pressed a green button underneath the flashing ‘INCOMING TRANSMISSION’ alert. A square image appeared on the control panel, with the sender of the transmission inside.

“Trying to break into the Hagbard, are you? *beep* Can’t let you do that.”

“Deepsea?! *whirr*” Arix exclaimed.

The rest of the Timechasers hurried over to the control panel and looked at Captain Deepsea through the transmission window. It was hard to tell if the apparent static in his eye was from the dated tech on the ship or if something had happened to the captain.

“Wait, how do you know what we were planning to do?” Ralivil asked.

“You don’t need to know,” was Deepsea’s answer. “The Celine is right behind the puny thing you call a ship. Turn around… *click* and fight me.”

“Now?” Ralivil asked, his voice rising.

“Yes. I look forward to your attendance.”

With that, the transmission ended, and the control panel returned to its default screen. Everyone stood in anxious silence.

“…Oh snap,” Elmadan finally mumbled.

“We cannot outspeed the Celine. You will have to do as Captain Deepsea says and go down and fight him,” Anue told the Timechasers.

“He better put up a good one! I’ve been itching for a good, long fight!” Boson said.

“He better _not – _what if we die?” Ralivil countered.

“Pshh, naw, we’ll win,” Boson assured him with a wave of a hand.

“You’d best be going down now,” Anue said. “Captain Deepsea sounded serious… unusually so. It would be foolish to keep him waiting.”

Buzzy Bol got the ship moving again, and the other three Timechasers moved away from the control panel. Turning around and flying over to the Celine took only a couple of minutes. The looming dull green shape of Captain Deepsea’s flagship filled the front window of their own.

“Well, we’re here,” Buzzy Bol nonchalantly announced. He turned to the other Timechasers and told them, “Get ready, guys.”

As Ralivil, Arix and Boson made their way to the ship’s hatch, Elamdan said to them, “Good luck guys.” He then curled back into the hyberpod he sat in and closed the lid.

The good luck wish eased Ralivil for a small moment. That moment passed, and Ralivil led the other Timechasers out of the ship and onto the outside of the Celine as Anue watched wordlessly.

The grumbling of the Celine’s engines was deafening. The pale red tiles that coated the outer paths were uncomfortably cold under Ralivil’s tentacles.

Deepsea’s voice blared all over the Celine through a microphone. “All soldiers fall back! Return to the hyberpod chamber! *beep*”

The Timechasers made their way across the outside path of the Celine. They were soon met with a vent imbedded in the floor, pushing air out of it every second. Ralivil hesitantly placed a couple of tentacles onto it and was flung several feet forward. He landed flat on his face. Arix stepped onto the vent and was flung forward as well, while Boson and Buzzy Bol simply flew over the gap within the safety of their UFOs. Arix engaged his Flashporter engine as soon as his feet hit the ground, blipping just a foot away from Ralivil’s head. He flailed his arms as he swayed from the sudden halt, but fell on his back with a **clang.** Boson stifled a laugh. Buzzy Bol gave Boson’s UFO a light-hearted jab. The two UFOs helped Arix and Ralivil back up to their feet.

The Timechasers soon found themselves at the end of the path, with nowhere to go but inside the ship itself. The Celine’s interior was just as dull as the exterior – the walls were made of the same green metal, and the floors used the same pale red tiles. The only things that really separated the inside from the outside were the strange metal boxes strewn about the halls, the ladders, and the roof above their heads. The halls were devoid of Deepsea’s Starmen.

Without anyone or anything else around but them, the trek to the top of the Celine was silent. Once they finally reached the top, Arix spotted another Blue Starman standing beside a doorway on the right.

“Hey,” the other Blue Starman called out, “the Captain’s in his quarters off to the left. Thought I’d give you guys some direction, *click* even if one of you is disobeying Commander Inpue’s orders.”

Arix began to yell back, “I’M NOT--“ He then whirred defeatedly, and muttered, “Nevermind.”

Ralivil led the rest of the Timechasers to Deepsea’s quarters. He was visibly shaking.

“Hey, Ralivil, it’ll be okay,” Boson told him, his voice softer than usual. “We’ll win. It’s a four-on-one, and we’re already a great team.”

A small smile made its way onto Ralivil’s face. “Thanks, Boson.”

With a deep breath, Ralivil opened the door to Deepsea’s quarters and led the team inside. It looked just the same as the other rooms on the Celine, but smaller. A long ladder, longer than the others aboard the flagship, sat in the top right corner. The amount of time it took to climb it and stand face to face with Captain Deepsea on the stage-like upper level was almost painful.

“You took long enough,” Deepsea said once the Timechasers all stood before him.

“Well hello to you to, Deepsea. *beep* I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see you again,” Arix replied.

There, indeed, was static in Deepsea’s eye. It was a bit more visible than it was in the transmission window, but still faint enough to be looked over.

The blue Starman deluxe put his hands to his hips as he said, “You won’t have to when I’m done with you. *click* Now, if you go to the Hagbard, you won’t like what you find there.” Deepsea cast Ralivil a glare as he added, “Especially not _you._”

Ralivil frowned as cocked his head, his eyestalks lowering slightly.

Deepsea crossed his arms as he continued, “*beep* I can’t let a rebel and his merry band get away with their mission to…” He glanced at the right wall as he squinted in contemplation for a second. He uncrossed his arms as he looked back at the Timechasers, a stern look on his face, then said, “Enough small talk.”

Captain Deepsea held his hands out in front of him, and a small blob of white light began to grow in front of it. It grew to the size of a baseball before a PK Beam Gamma blasted out of it. Boson swiftly darted out of the beam’s way, but Arix was hit right in the chest by it. He was knocked back to the edge of the level, and barely managed to cling onto it before he fell to the lower floor of the room. Buzzy Bol hastily flew over to Arix and extended both of his UFO’s metal arms for him. Arix grabbed onto the right metal hand, and Buzzy Bol started to pull him up. As this was happening, Boson pull the pin on a bomb and threw it right at Deepsea. The bomb exploded in his face. Ralivil followed up with a well-placed Forceful Jab to where Deepsea’s right knee would be, if he had any.

Deepsea let out a low whirr, almost like a growl. He stormed over to the intercom embedded on the left wall nearby, and barked into it, “Any two of you, get your shells over into my quarters RIGHT NOW! I need backup!”

Just a moment after Deepsea hung up on the intercom, two Blue Starmen teleported onto the upper level just a couple of steps behind their captain.

“Seriously? *whirr* You’re calling for backup _already? _You’re a coward, Deepsea,” Arix told the blue Starman Deluxe as he climbed back onto the upper level. The golden glow and diagonal pattern of a PSI Reflect, just cast on him by Buzzy Bol, surrounded him.

“I’m evening the odds, you miserable tin can,” Deepsea growled.

Deepsea raised his right hand, and a small pool of cosmic PSI formed around it. It grew larger and larger, until it hovered above all the Timechasers. Yellow, blue and white stars flew down from the cosmic energy. They initially fell in a straight line, but were drawn towards Arix’s PSI Reflect. The stars plinked off the shield and back at Deepsea and the two Blue Starmen he had summoned.

“That’s not FAIR!” Deepsea yelled.

Arix shrugged as he replied, “Life’s not fair; you just got lucky *click*.”

Deepsea glossed over the Timechasers, then set his sights on Ralivil. Ralivil felt his stomach drop as he and the captain locked gazes. The static in the latter’s eye built up, and in the blink of an eye, Deepsea dove forward towards Ralivil. Ralivil barely managed to step out of the way of Deepsea’s lunge, but was quickly met with a metal slap to the face. Boson flew over Deepsea and Buzzy Bol flew around him to focus their efforts on the two Blue Starmen Deepsea had called in. Arix, meanwhile, shot a PK Beam Beta at Deepsea’s back. To his surprise, Deepsea didn’t even give so much as a deep whirr at this attack.

Ralivil was braced for Deepsea’s next slap. It still stung his slimy green skin, but it wasn’t to the face, at least. He then followed up with a slap on Deepsea’s right side. The blue Starman Deluxe scowled, then swiped at twice at Ralivil. Ralivil dodged the first swipe, but was smacked in the shoulder by the second. Deepsea attempted to finish off with a Forceful Jab to make a Super Combo, but Ralivil grabbed Deepsea’s right hand. He then threw it down as hard as he could: a lot harder said than done with a Starman. Regardless, Deepsea’s balance was thrown off, and despite his attempts to stay on his feet, he fell flat onto his face.

Arix immediately took this opportunity to fire another PK Beam Beta at Deepsea’s back. Ralivil wrapped his lower tentacles around Deepsea’s right arm, then got in a couple of Tentacle Slaps on him. With a beep and a whirr, Deepsea propped himself up on his left arm. He held up his hand, as if to use a PSI attack, but nothing happened. Ralivil and Arix stared at the empty left hand while Deepsea frowned.

He glanced over at his hand. “Why isn’t it…?”

Arix fired a PK Beam Beta at the back of Deepsea’s head. The static cleared up to how it had been when the battle started, and Deepsea teleported near the upper level’s back wall. Deepsea looked around for the Blue Starmen he had called into the battle, which were now nowhere to be found.

“We blew them up,” Boson told Deepsea. “Sorry not sorry, dog.”

“Why you little…” Deepsea fired a PK Beam Gamma at Boson. A direct hit.

Boson turned to face Ralivil. “Uh, hey Ralivil? I’m a bit banged up over here – you got healing PSI, right?”

“Yeeees, I learned some at the Red Eye,” Ralivil replied. “Do you want to try heal you?”

“Preferably now.”

Ralivil slithered over to Boson and focused his energy on a Lifeup Beta. The soft, green aura inched out of Ralivil’s right tentacle, which he then placed on Boson’s UFO. The aura then slowly surrounded Boson’s UFO, causing the insectoid visible concern at its pace. But the technique worked in the end, and Boson was back up to full health. While that had been happening, Deepsea and Arix had been having a PK Beam-off, while Buzzy Bol threw in the occasional bomb. Then he ran out of those, so he settled for firing piddly little beams. Arix was also starting to run out of PP due to Deepsea starting to run out of PP for him to drain.

“Are you guys done over there? We need a little bit of help,” Buzzy Bol said to Ralivil and Boson.

“Would you like to do the honours of finishing off Deepsea, Ralivil? *click*” Arix asked.

“None of you will doing any such thing!” Deepsea yelled.

“I can try…” Ralivil replied to Arix.

He slithered towards him and Buzzy Bol, while Boson drifted behind him. Ralivil held out his right hand, once again feeling a soft pain from the Prophet’s Mark. The air chilled, and a blast of psychic power burst forth from his tentacle. Ralivil squeezed his eyes shut as the lightshow of light blue lines began. It was over in a few mere seconds, but it felt much longer than that.

Ralivil opened his eyes to Deepsea’s steaming body. He was laying face-down on the floor, and it was hard to judge if he was alive or dead, but the slow, trembling movements from the defeated captain answered his concerns.

Captain Deepsea slowly got to his pseudo-knees and looked around. The static in his eye was gone. He looked up at the Timechasers, and a wave of realisation hit in the face. Shaking, Deepsea stood up and stumbled to the rightmost side of the back wall. He fell back to his pseudo-knees and grabbed at a disc. He barely managed to stand up again, take a few steps toward the center of the room, and throw the disc at Arix. Arix fumbled with the disc as it fell into his hands, but fortunately, did not break it.

He looked down at the disc for a few moments, studying its features. It had a yellow ring surrounding the hole in the center, and engraved on one side was “PK THUNDER A”. He then looked up at Deepsea, an eyebrow raised.

“Just… *click* take it,” Deepsea urged him. “I-I’m sorry, I thought— You weren’t—"

Deepsea collapsed with a ringing **clang. **The Timechasers flinched at this. Arix glanced down at the PK Thunder Alpha disc Captain Deepsea had given to him, his brow furrowed in too many emotions for Ralivil to discern. A streak of fire shot from the back of the upper level to hit Deepsea, causing the Timechasers to scream. Malik then ran over to the fallen Starman Deluxe and pad him over.

“Hi again, old guy…?” Buzzy Bol greeted Malik. Malik ignored him.

The elderly Mook soon found what he was looking for – a blue card with the Starman emblem on the right side, coloured red. Some details were written to the left of the emblem, in white.

“That’s a Deepsea ID! *whirr*” Arix exclaimed. “…Why do you need it?”

Malik squinted at Arix and replied, “Why should I tell you?”

He stood up and looked down at Deepsea. A black and white aura, akin to static, was starting to come out of him instead of smoke.

“…Why is he doing that?” Ralivil asked, his eyes daring not to move away from Deepsea’s glitching body.

“_It._ _It _is reviving its puppet. Personal time manipulation,” Malik told him.

“Huh?”

“Yo, old man, are you saying that Deepsea… _isn’t _Deepsea?” Boson asked, an eyebrow raised. “’Cause, y’know, that’s totally wack.”

“That Starman came into contact with the leakage. Now it’s using him. It’s… assi… assimi… assi… _assimilating _him into its hivemind,” Malik muttered his explanation. He kept his stern eye on Deepsea’s body as the staticky, glitchy aura flared up and swallowed Deepsea whole. “You won’t be able to keep it down, unless Death finds some crazy way to outsmart it.”

Malik turned and ran over to the ladder, then slid down it and ran out of Deepsea’s quarters. The Timechasers barely managed to peel their eyes away from Deepsea as he did so.

“…I don’t want to stick around,” Ralivil said, eyeing Deepsea with his upper eyes.

The rest of the Timechasers agreed.

* * *

As the Timechasers climbed back into their ship, Anue asked, “How did it go?”

“Apparently Deepsea got infected by the leakage,” Arix stated.

“That old Mook that climbed onto our ship straight up stole his ID,” Boson added.

“At one point he fought like a Mook?” Ralivil also added.

“I’m out of bombs,” Buzzy Bol finished.

“Oh.” Everything was silent for a few seconds before Anue turned their head to the hyberpod Elmadan was sitting in when they left. A golden glow faintly shone through the cracks of the hyberpod. “Elmadan is sleeping right now. Try not to wake him,” Anue told the Timechasers.

“…Mooks don’t glow their sleep, Anue,” Ralivil told them.

“He is fine.”

Ralivil doubted that he was fine. Regardless, he sat down against the right wall and breathed out a quiet sigh. Buzzy Bol hovered up to the control panel got the ship started up again. Boson kept himself to a back corner of the ship, leaving his UFO’s control panel. Arix stood around for a couple of moments before walking over to Ralivil and sitting down beside him.

“I hope you don’t mind me sitting next to you,” he said to Ralivil.

Ralivil blinked as he looked over at Arix. “Huh? Uh, no, no, I don’t mind.”

They sat in silence for a few moments before Arix asked, “You seem more out of it than usual. What’s up? *beep*”

Ralivil sighed. “Nothing, really, it’s just that… there’s so much happening. The Points of Power, the leakage, Malik... There’s just so much I have to deal with, and… I dunno if I’ll come out of it alive.”

Arix put a hand on Ralivil’s, causing the latter’s face to become considerably flushed. “You’ve got us. There’s a reason why there’s four of us.”

“I—” Ralivil managed to glance away from Arix’s hand. “Right.”

Arix and Ralivil sat in place for about an hour in complete silence.

_‘Did I make things awkward? I made things awkward, didn’t I. Oh my stars. I did. Arix is— Okay, I don’t know what Arix is thinking, but he’s probably not too happy at me for making things awkward…?’_

While he wasn’t completely tuned into the conversation, he overheard Buzzy Bol mention the Hagbard to Anue. He sat up, saying, “Huh? The Hagbard? Are we there?”

Buzzy Bol turned to look over at Ralivil and told him, “Yeah, we’re right by it now.”

“However, we cannot make a stop here. We must continue to Mars as quickly as we can. If my suspicions are correct, this Malik you speak of will be headed there too,” Anue added.

“But the Points of Power are important, aren’t they?” Ralivil asked. By now, both Arix and Boson had tuned into the conversation. “Can’t we go to the Point of Power on the Hagbard? It can’t take that long.”

“No.”

“Just me, then? I promise I’ll be quick. In and out.”

Anue was silent as they thought for a moment. “I expect you to keep that promise, then.”

“I’ll get us parked over it,” Buzzy Bol said.

It took a minute or so, but the wait for the ship to be parked over the Hagbard took much longer than Ralivil would have liked in that moment. As soon as the ship had entered park mode, Ralivil dashed out the ship and onto the Hagbard. Arix watched, but not without concern.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **mixv tfqe cfob xka vlr’ii dbq yrokba**   
**x ibpplk qxrdeq vbq kbsbo ibxokba**


	9. I Don't Remember What it is That I Just Said to You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ralivil makes a very quick trip to the Eye in the Pyramid. He gets mood whiplash.

The sentient rocks scuttering about were barely given so much as a glance by Ralivil. He ran down the left wing right past them, giving no thought to how they blocked his path. He just stepped over them. The piles of sludge that squelched about were payed no mind, either. While Ralivil made sure not to step on them, it was made clear that he wanted nothing to do with them. The sludges understood, and left him to run about the roof of the Hagbard, but the rocks’ legs worked much faster than their brains. Or what they had of one.

The Jewel Joggers chased after Ralivil as he turned the corner at the head of the Hagbard. A couple more of the sentient rocks joined the mob chasing Ralivil as he dashed down the right wing. As he reached the end of the wing, he spotted a small hole right at the end. He assumed that it would lead to the inside of the Hagbard, took the risk, and jumped straight down into it.

His assumptions were proved correct. Ralivil only rested for a second, looking over his shoulder to see the Jewel Joggers chasing him fall down and shatter upon hitting the floor. The interior was filled with sentient piles of sludge, minding their own business. Ralivil ran right past them and up the ladder that sat at the center of the back wall. The ladder was tall, and it took longer than Ralivil would have liked to climb up it, but eventually, he made it up to the top room.

The room was empty, save for the silver pyramid that sat in the back, near the right corner. At the top of the metal pyramid was another, smaller pyramid. It was yellow and had a single eye with a red iris. It shone gold.

Ralivil could only take in the sight before the Prophet’s Mark flashed and flared up with pain. Ralivil clutched the Prophet’s Mark with his left tentacle, as per what was becoming routine, and gritted his teeth. The corners of his vision turned white. Without his teammates’ chatter to fill the void, the wait for the white to fill his vision was a painful slog.

The pain from the Prophet’s Mark finally faded, and the white in his vision soon did as well. He was back in the cave he had been transported to while visiting the Misplace Treetrunk. The female green Mook he had seen in the cave last he had been there was nowhere around. It was just the blue Mook. He sat near the old hyberpod, which was looking a bit worse for wear, and quietly doodled on a piece of paper with a crayon. The hyberpod had a small pile of paper on it. He still looked to be a child, but had grown a fair bit since their last meeting. The blue Mook looked up with his upper eyes, then gasped. He lifted his head to look up at Ralivil, who gave a lopsided smile and a small wave.

“Ralivil!” the blue Mook exclaimed. He got to his feet and ran up to him, excitement twinkling in his eyes.

“Hi again,” Ralivil said.

“I thought I wouldn’t see you again! It’s been ages!”

Ralivil’s eyes shrunk. “Oh stars, how long?” he asked.

The blue Mook thought for a moment. “Uhh… Three years.”

Ralivil let a sigh of relief escape him, slouching over for a moment. He straightened his back as he asked, “What have you been doing since I last saw you?”

The blue Mook’s face lit up upon hearing the question. “I’ve started drawing! It was just to remember what you looked like at first, but, uh…”

The blue Mook pursed his lips as he glanced down at the rocky floor. He then looked over his shoulder at the small pile of paper sitting on the old hyberpod, and slithered up to it. He grabbed the papers off the hyberpod and brought them over to Ralivil. He clumsily fanned them out, revealing various crayon drawings on each, all of them partially covering one another. Most of them appeared to be landscapes or the starry sky, but with some unusual colours thrown in, while the rest were simply drawings of something found around the cave.

“Mom always wants me to draw boring things, like gemblooms or rocks. Sometimes I do it so she’ll stop annoying me, but that doesn’t last for long,” the blue Mook explained with a frown. He dropped the drawings of subjects he called boring to the floor, then stared at it as he contemplated his next course of action. Ralivil stood patiently and waited for the blue Mook to make up his mind.

The blue Mook looked back to the papers he held in his tentacles, then looked them over. He mumbled to himself as the frown disappeared from his face. He flipped a piece of paper around and showed it Ralivil.

“I, uh… I sometimes draw us doing stuff together,” the blue Mook said, eyes down on the floor again. “It kinda… became a thing. They’re not that good…”

Ralivil was beaming.

“That’s awesome!” he told the blue Mook.

The blue Mook looked up at him, eyes wide. He was silent for a few seconds before quietly asking, “…You really think so…?”

“Of course! I can tell you enjoyed drawing it,” Ralivil replied.

The blue Mook’s voice lowered to a mumble as he said, “Well… yeah… I guess so…”

Ralivil crouched down to the blue Mook’s eye level and told him, “Don’t stop drawing things that make you happy, okay?”

A small smile crept onto the blue Mook’s face, and he gave a small nod.

Ralivil closed his eyes, and expected to be taken back to the Point of Power. But when he opened them, he found himself standing in a pitch black void. He looked around, feeling beads of sweat already forming on his head. A bright white glow caught his eyes, and he looked forward to see a perfectly circular eye open up to look at him. Said eye had a red iris, like the eye on the yellow pyramid at the Point of Power.

“01000100 01010011 01011010 01000111 00100000 01011010 01001001 01010110 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100000 01010111 01001100 01010010 01001101 01010100 00100000 01010011 01010110 01001001 01010110 00111111” a voice echoed into Ralivil’s mind. Presumably, it was from the eye itself, but Ralivil didn’t imagine a one-eyed pyramid to sound like an annoyed old man with static laced in his voice.

“I– I don’t know what you’re saying!” Ralivil replied.

“01001100 01010011 00100000 01000100 01010110 01001111 01001111 00101110”

“I-I’m only hearing garbled zeroes and ones!” Ralivil told the voice.

“01000111 01010011 01011010 01000111 00100111 01001000 00100000 01000100 01010011 01011010 01000111 00100000 01010011 01011010 01001011 01001011 01010110 01001101 01001000 00100000 01000100 01010011 01010110 01001101 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100000 01001111 01001100 01001000 01010110 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 01001001 01001000 01010110 01001111 01010101 00100000 01010010 01001101 01001000 01010010 01010111 01010110 00100000 01011010 00100000 01001110 01011010 01011000 01010011 01010010 01001101 01010110 00101100 00100000 01010000 01010010 01010111 00101110”

“Are you trying to tell me something…?” Ralivil guessed, his voice lowering to a squeak.

“01010100 01010110 01010110 01000001 00100001 00100000 01000111 01001100 01001100 01010000 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100000 01001111 01001100 01001101 01010100 00100000 01010110 01001101 01001100 01000110 01010100 01010011 00100000 01000111 01001100 00100000 01010101 01010010 01010100 01000110 01001001 01010110 00100000 01010010 01000111 00100000 01001100 01000110 01000111 00101110”

“I don’t know what you’re saying! Is that a yes or a no? I— Was it a yes or a no at all?” Ralivil asked. “You’re really scaring me here!”

“01000010 01001100 01000110 00100111 01001001 01010110 00100000 01001000 01011000 01011010 01001001 01010110 01010111 00100000 01001101 01001100 01000100 00111111 00100000 01010000 01010010 01010111 00101100 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100111 01001001 01010110 00100000 01010100 01001100 01001101 01001101 01011010 00100000 01010100 01001100 00100000 01001000 01000111 01001001 01011010 01010010 01010100 01010011 01000111 00100000 01000111 01010011 01001001 01001100 01000110 01010100 01010011 00100000 01010011 01010110 01001111 01001111 00101110 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100111 01001001 01010110 00100000 01010100 01001100 01001101 01001101 01011010 00100000 01010011 01011010 01000101 01010110 00100000 01001000 01001100 00100000 01001110 01000110 01011000 01010011 00100000 01011000 01001001 01011010 01001011 00100000 01001000 01010011 01001100 01000101 01010110 01010111 00100000 01010111 01001100 01000100 01001101 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 01001001 00100000 01000111 01010011 01001001 01001100 01011010 01000111 00100000 01011001 01000010 00100000 01010111 01010110 01011010 01000111 01010011 00100000 01000111 01010011 01011010 01000111 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100111 01001111 01001111 00100000 01011001 01010110 00100000 01001000 01010010 01001101 01010100 01010010 01001101 01010100 00100000 01011001 01010110 01010110 01000111 01010011 01001100 01000101 01010110 01001101 00101110”

Ralivil had no reply this time around. He simply curled up as much as he could of himself as the loud, staticky, garbled voice echoed in his mind, telling him things he couldn’t understand.

“00101110 00101110 00101110 01010011 01000110 01010011 00101110 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100111 01001001 01010110 00100000 01001101 01001100 00100000 01010101 01000110 01001101 00100000 01000111 01001100 00100000 01001110 01010110 01001000 01001000 00100000 01011010 01001001 01001100 01000110 01001101 01010111 00100000 01000100 01010010 01000111 01010011 00101110 00100000 01010100 01010110 01000111 00100000 01001100 01010101 01010101 00100000 01001110 01000010 00100000 01001011 01000110 01001011 01001011 01010110 01000111 00100111 01001000 00100000 01001011 01001001 01001100 01001011 01010110 01001001 01000111 01000010 00101110”

Ralivil’s surroundings blinked back into view. He was back next to the Point of Power, like nothing had ever happened. He could feel his heart pounding. It felt as though it wanted to leap out of his chest. His breaths were ragged. The time it took for Ralivil to stop his head from spinning seemed like forever. Once his breaths were controlled, and his heart had calmed some, he immediately ran back to the Timechasers’ ship.

As he climbed up the walls to jump up to the hole in the right wing he’d jumped down, he noticed that the piles of sludge were starting to suddenly stop and start. The observation almost made Ralivil forget what he was doing for a moment. He ignored it until he returned to the ship.

Anue stared at him silently for much longer than comfortable.

“…You took longer than I thought you would,” they finally said in their monotonous voice.

From the back of the ship, Boson argued, “Yeah, well, not everyone can just magically teleport where they’d like in a split second.”

“He does have a point,” Buzzy Bol added.

Anue grimaced slightly as they quietly huffed.

“Anyway, time to head for Mars!” Buzzy Bol announced.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **gsv nzxsrmv szh hklpvm**


	10. I've Got Anubis on My Back and Something in My Shoe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers arrive on Mars. Again, Malik’s beaten them there, but something else is going on, too.

The ship whined to a halt as it parked just above one of the many tall hills that made the valleys of northern Mars.

“This is the flattest hill in the area. We’re probably going to walk a fair bit to the Point of Power,” Buzzy Bol told Anue. “That’s fine though, right?”

Anue gave a nod.

Arix stood up to look out the front window, and Ralivil followed him. Boson drifted over to the front window as well. Mars’ surface looked awful. Any and all vegetation that may have once existed was gone. All that remained was dust, debris and patches of static.

“What… What happened to Mars?” Ralivil asked.

Anue replied, “The RPG-maker. It first destroyed all the life on the surface, sans the Point of Power, and is now eating away at the rest of the planet. It will perish within a week or so.”

The Timechasers fell into uncomfortable silence.

“I have made visits to Mars before,” Anue then told them. “Due to the sheer number of mountains on Mars, I will guide you toward the one the next Point of Power resides on.”

“…Is it the tallest one? Because we could totally find it on our own,” Boson asked.

“No, you would not. Trust me,” Anue said.

Boson glanced away at the wall.

Anue turned their body towards the hyberpod aboard the ship. “Let me notify Elmadan of our whereabouts before we leave.”

Anue trotted over to the lone hyberpod, bent over and gently knocked on its lids. There was a quiet **thump **from inside before Elmadan’s purple tentacle pushed the lids open. He slung himself over the edge and wearily looked up at Anue.

Ralivil sharply inhaled as the Timechasers saw Elmadan again for the first time in a while.

“All that napping hasn’t been doing him any favours, has it?” Buzzy Bol murmured to Ralivil.

“Elmadan? We have arrived on Mars, and I will be accompanying the Timechasers to the Point of Power here. You will have to be unsupervised for a while,” Anue told Elmadan.

Elmadan nodded as he mumbled in reply, “Mhm, yeah, I’m okay with that.” He paused before asking, “Hey, Anue? My eyes’ve been… really sore lately. Do they look okay…?”

Anue stared for a moment, before stretching out Elmadan’s lower eyelids. This prompted a small whine from the purple Mook as Anue took a closer look at his lower eye. Boson dared to quietly drift over and take a peek over Anue’s shoulder. There was a slight golden glaze over Elmadan’s red-and-green eye, most prominent in his pupil. The golden glaze was also subtly present in his sclera, but it was hard to detect, and made it look more off-white. It was very likely that the same could be said for his upper eyes as well, but impossible to check, since they were currently shut tight.

Anue let Elmadan’s eyelids fall back into place. Elmadan rubbed his eye, and Boson zipped back over to the Timechasers as Anue straightened their back.

“It is fine. You are just experiencing side effects from your powers of insight,” Anue told Elmadan.

Elmadan squinted. He was silent for a couple of moments before he looked up at Anue and asked, “…I've been usin’ ‘em?”

“Often.”

Elmadan sat with his brow furrowed for a couple of seconds before announcing, “I’m goin’ to sleep.”

“Before you do! If you have any dreams, or anything akin to dreams, could you write them down for me, please?” Anue asked Elmadan.

“Uhhhh…. I can try,” Elmadan said. He then laid back down in the hyberpod, closing the lids.

Anue turned their head back to the Timechasers and told them, “Let us be on our way to the Point of Power now.”

The Timechasers followed Anue down the drop ladder and onto Mars’ surface. Ralivil could immediately notice that the air was thinner than it should have. He chalked it up to the leakage – Saturn was further from the Sun, yet the air there was completely fine. It also explained the otherworldly stench.

The walk on Mars’ surface was silent. Anue gracefully trotted in front of them, their ears twitching inside their hood. Occasionally, they would point out chunks of leakage in their path by leaping over it and pointing at it with their tail. Similar to the smaller patches of leakage on the hills, the chunks were embedded in the ground. If he looked closely enough, sometimes Ralivil would see the chunks inches deeper into the ground.

Some parts of Mars’ surface had already been dealt a noticeable blow. The leakage could sometimes be spotted deep in the side of hills or a couple of feet into the ground. At one point, the Timechasers and Anue had passed a nearly decimated rust orange boulder. There was no debris, only silence and the horrifying realisation that they were witnessing the death of a planet that followed.

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, a small, metal building came into view at a dead end. The building was completely cubic, and the door appeared to be not much smaller than the average Mook. A speck of leakage nestled on one corner of the corrugated roof.

Anue’s head lifted slightly at the sight. “Ah, it seems the Martians are still okay.” They looked over their shoulder at the Timechasers and told them, “Come along, now. The Martians will not hurt us. I have spoken with them before.”

The doors slid open as Anue approached. They bent over a little as they entered the small building. Ralivil lowered his eyestalks as he entered, and Arix had to duck, but Boson and Buzzy Bol had no troubles whatsoever.

The inside was dimly lit. There was a turned off screen and a green tube on the wall with the door, and a pod similar to the tube near the furthest right corner. Opposite the pod was a lone ladder leading further underground.

The Timechasers followed Anue down the ladder and entered a hall full of aliens akin to snails. They had dark eyes and large white pupils, with skin tones in the varying from a pale creamy colour to dark brown. Their shells, all various colours of the rainbow, started from their foreheads and ended just above their long, almost worm-like tails. Their arms were noodly, like a Mook’s, but their legs were stockier and had definable feet, even if those feet didn’t have toes. They all sat on the cool metal floor, their eyes downcast, as the children huddled close to their parents. Only three of these aliens were standing – they all held stern expressions on their faces as a presumably important person to Martian society, wearing a tie around his neck, spoke with an all too familiar white Mook.

“Are you sure that these ‘horsemen’ you speak of will be coming?” the tie-wearing alien asked in a hushed tone. “And what of—"

Malik’s eye stalks whipped around to stare down the Timechasers as they entered the hall. They returned to the tie-wearing alien as he hissed in reply, “They’re here _now, _Dionaea! Forget about the officials, they’re already gone!”

Anue let out a simple “oh” as Malik turned to face them and the Timechasers.

“What are YOU FOUR doing here?! What are you doing… with DEATH here as well?! I thought I made myself clear on… on Jupiter,” Malik barked.

Anue appeared to be completely unfazed by Malik’s yelling. “I am here to guide the Timechasers to the Point of Power here. My name is Anue. I believe this the first time we have properly spoken.”

A silky, furred white hand extended from under Anue’s cloak. Malik squinted at their hand, then up at Anue’s concealed face. He slowly slithered up to them, ignoring any feet he tread over and maintaining assumed eye contact. He eventually stopped in front of Anue, and raised a tentacle for the handshake they offered slower than he had slithered. He then slapped it away in the blink of an eye.

“You’ve got a lot to hide if you’re refusing to show your face,” Malik muttered. He cast a glance to the Timechasers with his upper eyes before slithering back over to the tie-wearing alien.

Anue quietly cleared their throat before looking over their shoulder, gesturing at the snail-like aliens and telling the Timechasers, “These are the Martians. As I said earlier, they will not hurt you.” They then turned back to the Martians and gave a polite wave as they said, “Hello again!”

One of the nearby Martians wearily raised their head and glanced up at Anue. “Oh. Hi again, Anue.”

“D… _Just _Malik said that you and those other offworlders behind you are all bad guys, or something?” another Martian added.

“What? No, we’re trying to save the entire galaxy!” Buzzy Bol told them.

A third Martian hummed before saying, “Well, Anue is with you. It could go either way.”

The first Martian that spoke to the Timechasers nodded while the second added, “They’ve talked to us – well, the officials before. And they trust them, at least.”

“Yeah, but when was the last time the government made a smart decision? We’re in this sorry state because of them,” the first Martian argued.

“They—”

The second Martian was cut off by Dionaea turning to Anue and the Timechasers with wide eyes, telling the former as he began to step towards them, “Oh, Anue! I almost forgot to tell you. About the government officials, this w—”

Malik grabbed his arm and yanked him back over. “WHAT do you think you’re doing?” he hissed.

“I was just going to tell Anue that—”

“You’re not going to tell that demon **ANYTHING! GOT IT?!**” Malik’s voiced grew louder as he spoke. No one had seen his eyes so wide and filled with anger. No one had heard him screech as he did at the end of his sentence.

The entire hall was silent in the drawn out moments that Malik held his glare on Dionaea, and everyone else’s eyes on Malik. Dionaea eventually meekly nodded. Malik’s upper eyes cast a glare over everyone staring just a second before he dragged Dionaea away, muttering to himself about sorting something out.

Once Malik was out of sight, the Martians turned to each other and began to nervously chatter to their peers. The Timechasers cast each other anxious glances.

Boson dared to glance at the exit of the hall as he murmured, “That dude… is wack.” He glanced back at Arix as he asked, “You were the first of us to meet him, right dog? How did you manage to keep it together around him?”

“He wasn’t nearly as angry when I first met him *beep*” Arix replied. “He did yell a bit when he realised he forgot to take some sign down, and he did ask me to stay with him, buuuuut…” Arix then gave a shrug. Boson hummed as he frowned.

Ralivil blinked as he realised Anue had already gone ahead without the Timechasers. They were talking to the Martians who had been with Dionaea, as they had stayed behind. One of them, a female, handed Anue something. It was hard to tell from a distance, but it did catch the dull lights for a moment. Anue gave the two Martians a small nod, and they headed for the exit Malik had dragged Dionaea to as the former returned to the Timechasers.

Anue extended their hands to reveal several different sized coins, all with a Saturnian B engraved on them. “Aldrovanda and Drosera gave me some money for you four to use during our trip to the Point of Power here. There are 700 Bowbucks in total – be sure to spread it out amongst yourselves.”

Ralivil carefully scooped the Bowbucks out of Anue’s hands, only to realise that he had nothing to put them all in. As he glanced around in search for something to hold the Bowbucks, Buzzy Bol asked, “That’s great, but where are we gonna find a place to spend it all?”

“There is a vending machine in this hallway. I quickly made note of what it contains; not only are there drinks, but also items that will help you in battle.”

Boson darted over to the vending machine a short distance away as soon as Anue said the word “battle”. Buzzy Bol quickly followed, and Arix and Ralivil carefully stepped around the Martians to catch up.

Once every member of the Timechasers had gathered in front of the vending machine, they began to study the contents inside. Ralivil rather quickly glossed over the contents of the vending machine compared to his teammates.

“I thought they would have something to eat as well,” Ralivil commented, looked up at his teammates.

“Anue didn’t mention food. They’re very to the point: like Commander Inpue, I’ve noticed. *whirr* It must be a thing of their species. Anyway, if Anue didn’t mention food, there wouldn’t be any food,” Arix explained.

“The Martians must have eaten them all themselves. I don’t blame them,” Buzzy Bol added. His eye caught the attention of a row of Balloon grenades, causing him to go, “Ooooo!”

As Buzzy Bol gawked over grenades with Boson, Arix looked between the row of protective coins in the vending machine and a sole PK Beam Gamma disc. He did this for a whole minute before he turned to a nearby Martian and asked, “How much is the PK Beam Gamma disc?”

“1000,” the Martian mumbled in reply.

Arix frowned as he looked back at the vending machine. Between Ralivil’s almost wistful stare at the Sparkling juice, the two UFOs excitement over grenades and the coins staring him in the face, it was hard to choose what to buy.

Arix turned to the same Martian again and asked, “How much are the other items, if I may ask? *click*”

“75 for the juice, 100 for the booze, another 100 for the Gas canister, 150 for the grenades, 650 for the coins.”

Arix gave the Martian a nod before looking back at the vending machine. He thought for a moment before tapping Ralivil’s shoulder. The green Mook flinched before looking up at Arix.

“Are you going to ask everyone what they would like?” Arix asked.

“Uh, well, I kinda already… figured it out.” Ralivil pointed to each item as he said, “You want the PK Beam Gamma disc but we can’t afford it, Boson and Buzzy Bol want the Balloon grenades, and I want some Sparkling juice because I’m desperate for something in my stomach.”

Arix blinked. “Impressive.”

“I’m thinking we’ll get more explosives and just a juice or two on the side. They won’t fill me up that much, anyway.”

Arix glanced up at the ceiling as he ran some calculations in his head. After a few seconds of thinking, he told Ralivil, “We could get four grenades and a Sparkling juice for 675 B, *click* but we would have change that we wouldn’t be able to use.”

Ralivil hummed in thought for a moment before replying, “It’s better than nothing.”

Ralivil slithered over to the number pad on the vending machine, causing Boson and Buzzy Bol to hover away slightly. Ralivil inputted a few numbers into the machine, then fumbled with the coins before putting them into the coin slot. Slowly, the grenades tumbled down, and Buzzy Bol snatched them up with glee. Ralivil inputted one number, inserted more coins, and a Sparkling juice tumbled down. He took it and held it in this right tentacle.

From just behind the Timechasers, the Martian Arix had previously spoke to said, “Hey, you still want that disc, blue guy?”

“Yes…”

The Martian stood up and walked over to the vending machine’s side. He whacked it with his tail, then grabbed it with both arms. Using a foot as leverage, he slowly picked up the vending machine and shook it. The items inside rattled about, but none fell down. The Martian whacked it with his tail again, and what sounded to be three items fell.

“Was that the disc?” the Martian asked.

Ralivil peered into the deposit, then looked up at the Martian and nodded. The Martian dropped the vending machine with a **clang **that bounced off the hallway’s walls. Arix grabbed the PK Beam Gamma disc, and Ralivil grabbed the Sparkling juice and the Balloon grenade that had fallen down with it, handing the grenade to Buzzy Bol in the process.

“I guess you got some other stuff with it,” the Martian shrugged.

“Thank you! *beep*” Arix said to the Martian. The rest of the Timechasers chimed in with their thanks as well.

“Eh, no biggie. There’s also some spare food in the room over there. My brother did that trick way better than I did.”

“Did? What happened to him?” Ralivil asked, his face written with concern.

The Martian glanced away at the floor, before quietly replying, “…It’s not important.”

He slunk into the room he pointed out had spare food inside. The Timechasers exchanged concerned glances. The Martian soon came out with a handful of small Gummi blobs and some strange vegetation Ralivil could only assume was native to Mars as it was shoved into his tentacles. The Martian then went back to sitting down on the cold floor.

Ralivil stared at the strange vegetation as he put a Gummi blob in his mouth, then asked his teammates, “Does this look dangerous to you guys?”

The answer was a “no, I don’t think so” from everyone.

Ralivil then turned his head to Anue and yelled across the hall, “We’re done shopping!”

Anue gave a nod, then leapt between the Martians over to them. “Shall we continue on our way?” they asked.

All the Timechasers nodded. Anue led them out of the hall and back up to the surface of Mars. It was the same on this side of the hills that blocked their path as the other. Anue’s ears twitched inside their hood, before they looked upwards at the many peaks they stood a short distance away from.

“We’re not far now. Come along.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **wlxgli -----**   
**blf'iv uilavm rmhrwv**   
**wlxgli n----**   
**dzb wldm rm blfi nrmw**   
**wlxgli -z-r-**   
**blf ovug gsvn yvsrmw**   
**wlxgli --o--**   
**blf dviv wvhgilbvw yb blfi kirwv**


	11. Don't Walk Backwards, Don't Be Jealous

Anue had led the Timechasers into a small abandoned laboratory in the side of one of the mountains. The lab looked the same as the hallway they had just been in, but with more purple boxes strewn about and a complete lack of Martians. There was a wall with two small windows on the left and a ladder on the right of it. On the upper level of the lab was an another turned off screen, a sealed door, more of those purple boxes and another ladder. On the final floor were simply a few more boxes, two of them stacked in a corner, and one of those small green tubes like they had seen in the entrance to the underground hallway. A ladder at the end of the final level had a series of sticky notes beside it. The chicken scratch writing was written in a hurry, but judging by the amount of exclamation points used at the end, whatever was written was not friendly.

Climbing up the ladder and onto the mountain itself, the sight of the snow on the mountain took Ralivil’s breath away. Only a second later did the cold strike him. He cast a glance to Anue: they had that cloak on, they were probably just shivering. He looked at his teammates behind him: Boson and Buzzy Bol were inside their UFOs, and Arix was a Starman. Ralivil sighed. Looks like he got the short end of the stick.

Anue continued to lead the way as they led the Timechasers up the mountain. The snow was a lot harder and crunchier underfoot than Ralivil had heard it was. Anue quietly greeted the remaining lifeforms, sentient icicles, who still stuck around on the mountain. Most wanted a fight, but Anue simply snapped their fingers, releasing a small jolt of indescribable PSI, and that was more than enough to ward them away.

“Daaaaaang,” Buzzy Bol remarked, “do you do that to everyone who gets in your way, or…?”

“Not usually,” Anue replied. “I prefer to talk things out. I am not in the mood for that today, though.”

Lowering his voice to a whisper, Buzzy Bol commented to himself, “Oh. Alright.”

Arix looked around, whirred to himself, then asked, “I have noticed that the Points of Power are free of the RPG-maker’s infection. *click* Why is that?”

Anue replied, “The Points of Power are the most stable points in our universe. They flow not only with psychic energy, but with time’s flow as well. The RPG-maker’s code is based off variables and insecurities in time’s flow – it cannot reach the Points of Power.”

“And what happens when we visit them…?” Ralivil dared to ask.

“Time’s stable flow goes into us,” Anue replied.

“What about that star you thought you gave me? That has something to do with the Points of Power, right?” Buzzy Bol added.

Anue nodded. “It would have stored time’s stable flow in itself instead of us, and kept us safe from succumbing to the RPG-maker’s irregularities. I had planned to take it to the RPG-maker itself with you four once we had visited all eight Points of Power, but since…”

Anue came to a standstill. The Timechasers stopped, too, and looked at Anue from behind with concern. A few seconds passed before Anue murmured to themselves, “I left it on the… Oh no.”

“Is everything alright, Anue?” Arix asked, then whirred.

Anue’s head bounced up as they replied, “Just fine. As I said back at Elmadan’s base, we can work without it.”

With that, Anue began walking again. Their pace was brisker than before, Ralivil had noticed. The rest of the trek up the mountain was silent. Only the howling winds kept the Timechasers company. Ralivil was pretty sure staying on the mountain for much longer would be a health risk, so he was glad to find that they soon made it to the very top.

The view was breathtaking from up there. The stars gleamed and glistened in the darkness of space, and the small pool of water reflected their soft glow, as well as the Timechasers and Anue themselves.

Buzzy Bol reluctantly hopped out of his UFOs for a moment to touch the water’s surface and gain another PSI ability, while the rest of the Timechasers awkwardly watched. Ralivil then slithered up to the pool, knelt down, and dipped his right tentacle into it. The familiar Point of Power pain, as well as a shock of cold, shot up his tentacle and into the rest of his body, before it focused itself on the Prophet’s Mark. The corners of his vision went white again as he clenched his teeth and curled his other tentacles.

“Interesting,” Anue murmured to themselves.

As the white in the corners of Ralivil’s vision spread further and the colours of his surroundings blended together, the starting discussion between his teammates and Anue began to muffle. Soon enough, it was all gone, replaced by the familiar white nothingness he was getting used to seeing on his trips to the Points of Power. The pain from the Prophet’s Mark began to fade, and new surroundings began to come into view.

He was back on Saturn again, but this time, he looked to be on a hill. How fitting. Just a few feet away from him was the blue Mook, who had again grown, but with his back turned to him. Ralivil slithered towards him, feeling nothing underfoot. The blue Mook held out his right tentacle, which quivered slightly, as a single bead of sweat rolled down his head. Ralivil noticed the extra slime dripping off his eye stalks and tentacles, which had made a small pool around his feet. He grimaced at the returning memories of going through puberty himself.

The blue Mook sighed. He mumbled to himself, “I just gotta try a little harder…”

“At what?” Ralivil quietly asked.

The blue Mook screamed as he jumped around to look at Ralivil. He stared at him, eyes wide as Saturn’s moons for a few seconds, before mumbling, “Oh, it’s you.”

Ralivil gave a small wave. “Hello again.”

“How did you find me up here?!” the blue Mook questioned.

“I don’t know,” Ralivil replied.

The blue Mook frowned. “…What do you mean, ‘you don’t know’?”

Ralivil sighed. “It’s complicated.”

The blue Mook turned away slightly, frowning at his right tentacle. It quivered again after a few seconds, then relaxed as the blue Mook sighed.

“What are you trying to do there, if I may ask?” Ralivil asked.

The blue Mook glanced away as he replied, “I’m trying to get my PSI. I’ve never been able to use it, and Mom’s only been more stressed recently, so, maybe if I finally get it to work, she might be less stressed.”

The blue Mook stared at his right tentacle again for a few seconds, but nothing happened. He frowned as he continued, his voice rising, “But nothing’s been happening and Mom doesn’t think I even _have _PSI but I wanna prove her wrong! I’ve gotta be good for something! Because if I can’t use PSI then what good am I at all?!”

Ralivil’s breath hitched. He searched his mind for something to say, anything, that might make him feel better. He knew it was hard to reason with a teenager, but he _had _to right now. If he couldn’t make the Prophet feel better, who knew what could happen?

“I…” Ralivil bit his lip for a moment before saying, “I know that it feels like you’re never going to find out what you want to do in life, but trust me, you’re going to do something extraordinary. You just have to give it time.”

“But I CAN’T give it time!” the blue Mook snapped, tears now flowing down his face. “If I don’t get my PSI, everyone’s gonna hate me more than they already do, and I won’t HAVE ANYTHING TO LOOK FORWARD TO! You don’t get it! You’re NORMAL!”

“No, I—”

“I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT!” The blue Mook fell silent as he glanced down at the blue grass. He sniffled, then muttered, “Just… leave me alone.”

The blue Mook slithered away a few paces. Ralivil watched, feeling tears stinging at his eyes. He closed his eyes to wipe away the ones forming on his lower eye. When he opened his eyes again, he was back at the pool on the mountain. Boson and Buzzy Bol hovered in front of him with equally concerned looks, while Arix had knelt down next to him.

“Are you alright? *click*” Arix asked.

“I…” Ralivil paused for a moment, looking for the right words, before replying, “I hope so.”

He stood back up again and said, “Let’s just head back.”

Anue took the lead again as they all headed back down the mountain. Anue was the only one who was keeping an eye on the group’s surroundings. Their pace began to slow before it came to a halt entirely.

They looked over their shoulder at Ralivil and said, “The icicles that live here are stopping and starting in a different place… Ralivil… why did you not tell me this was happening?”

“I thought you would have known!” Ralivil replied.

“I do not know everything, Ralivil,” Anue told him, turning around to face him in full.

Buzzy Bol chimed in, arguing, “But you’ve known a heck of a lot so far!”

“That is only with the help of—” Anue cut themselves off. They were silent for a moment before casting a glance at the snow on the ground, murmuring, “…Nevermind.”

“With the help of who?” Ralivil asked.

Anue looked back up at Ralivl, telling him, “It is not important. Do not worry yourself with it.”

Boson entered the conversation with a frown, saying, “I’m pretty sure it is! Who’s helping you?”

Anue looked over at Boson. “I have already said, it is not important.”

Arix glanced up at the snow above them with worry, then to Boson. “Boson, if you get much louder…”

“Not now, Arix! Anue, why aren’t you telling us, dude? Is that Malik guy RIGHT?! How much are you hiding from us?!”

Anue’s ears flattened slightly. “Boson, you must understand that some things must be kept secret for the good of the team.”

“A team can’t work well if somebody’s KEEPING SECRETS! SPILL IT, YOU HOODED FREAK!”

“No! I’m doing this so YOU WON’T GET HURT!”

Anue’s shrill scream echoed across the mountain. It was the only sound that filled the air for a few long moments. It cut out on occasion, like the movements of the sentient icicles. Then, a rumbling from above them. The snow barely moved, but everyone knew that wouldn’t last forever.

“…I will be returning to the ship once we reach the foot of the mountain. Follow at your own pace.” With that, Anue turned around and continued walking. The Timechasers hesitantly followed them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **dqxh lv dzixoob vxvslflrxv**   
**dqg wkdw’v qrw pb krvw’v glvwuxvw wdonlqj**


	12. You're So Bloody Overzealous

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers head further into Martian territory. They find out what horrors await the Martians, and possibly the entire solar system…
> 
> Also, warning for goop. Like, amalgamates from Undertale kinda goop.

Anue teleported away in a flash of light yellow light once they and the Timechasers exited the abandoned laboratory that led to Mars’ Point of Power. A distant rumble sounded from up the mountain as Arix sat down and pulled out the two PSI discs the team had obtained recently. A small tray ejected from below his eye, and he put the PK Thunder Alpha disc on it. The tray slid back, and after a couple of seconds, a small jingle played from him. He repeated the process with the PK Beam Gamma disc as Ralivil peered outside, looking both ways with his upper eyestalks.

Arix stood up again and walked closer to Boson and Buzzy Bol. The three of them watched as Ralivil stood in thought. Ralivil put a tentacle to his chin as he mused to himself, “There _is _that hall entrance not too far away…”

“Yes… *click* But what does this have to do with our situation?” Arix asked. “Anue gave us orders to—”

Ralivil stared outside again. “That’s where we’re going next.”

As Ralivil slipped out the door and back out into Mars’ barren valleys, Buzzy Bol replied, “Wait, aren’t we supposed to go back to the ship?”

Ralivil’s voice came from afar. “I don’t care what Anue wants us to do right now! There’s something going on here, and instead of rushing from one planet to another, I want to _help _somebody, for once.”

Buzzy Bol and Arix exchanged nervous glances. Boson simply stared outside, a disgruntled look still settled on his face. Buzzy Bol darted after Ralivil, and Arix followed, quietly notifying Boson.

The still, humid air of Mars’ surface was a change of pace Ralivil welcomed; though the absolutely dry state of the planet was greeted with less of a positive outlook. He led the Timechasers past a signpost with RPG-maker leakage gnawing on its’ upper end to a small, metal building nearly identical to the first one they had encountered in outward appearance. Unlike the first one, this one had two small, square windows on each side of the door.

The interior was similar to the first underground hall’s – dim, but a notable lack of tubes, boxes and any kind of screen embedded into the wall. The ladder that led down to the halls themselves was long; almost as long as the ladder down into the first hall with the Martians in it, but there was no tunnel surrounding it this time. Ralivil couldn’t help but feel what confidence he had drain away as he made his descent.

The metal rings holding the first of the halls’ ceiling made everything feel much more enclosed. What he assumed – and dismissed as workings of his imagination – to be whispers echoed from further inside. A dark haze obscured most details beyond, and crackled every now and then with static. Buzzy Bol gave Ralivil an uneasy and concerned look as Arix scanned the paths ahead. Boson’s mood had shifted, though he tried to conceal it. Ralivil went ahead anyway.

Ralivil turned right at the first crossroads. The whispering grew louder. It sounded… pained. There was no distinct source. It all sounded garbled. It was akin to what Ralivil had heard after visiting the Prophet at the Eye in the Pyramid, but more like words sprinkled in with those dreaded zeroes and ones. It was cold. So cold.

An electrical buzz and a yelp sounded from Boson’s UFO. Arix, who was following behind him, asked, “What’s up?”

Another buzz sounded from Boson’s UFO before he decided to climb out and perch on its roof. “Somethin’s jammin’ up my mic. Can’t get much across like this.”

An electrical buzz then sounded from Buzzy Bol’s UFO. Moments later, Buzzy Bol popped out of his UFO. “You think the RPG-maker has something to do with it?”

“Yeah. There’s somethin’… unreal about it.”

There was a pause before Boson looked around. “Wait, where’s Ralivil?”

“O-Over here!” came Ralivil’s voice from behind them.

“I thought we were going THIS way!” Boson shouted, pointing further down the hall.

“I think those voices were telling me to go this way, though,” Ralivil explained.

“Oh, now you’re listening to the VOICES, are ya now, dog?! For real?!” Boson grumbled a sigh, then returned to the control panel of his UFO. Buzzy Bol followed suit, and the three other Timechasers followed Ralivil up the hall and down the other path.

At the end of the long hallway was a door, and possibly something else, but the haze obscured most of their surroundings, so it was almost impossible to tell. Ralivil hesitantly reached out to the door, which loudly, and slowly, hissed open. The inside of the square room the door led to had a minimal amount of dark haze, but filled to the brim with stuff. A green tube in the furthermost left corner, some smaller green tubes beside that, some purple boxes stacked on both sides of the door, a Martian log computer in the center of the room, and a Martian leaning on it. Her face was familiar.

Arix, keen-eyed and sharp-minded, said to the Martian, “You’re one of the Martians from before that was with Dionaea, aren’t you? *click*”

The Martian weakly sputtered out a cough before replying, “Yeah, that’s me. Drosera.”

The Timechasers came closer to Drosera, and the door hissed closed, as Ralivil asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I should be asking you that,” Drosera replied, glancing at Ralivil, who had knelt down beside her.

“W-Well, I wanted to help here, somehow! I haven’t been doing a lot of saving anyone since I got offplanet, despite Anue saying that I’m a hero, somehow…”

Drosera hummed in thought as she glanced down at the floor.

“But, uh… you didn’t answer my question,” Ralivil meekly added.

“Your que… Oh, what I’m doing here, right? Well, my boss, Dionaea, told me and Aldrovanda that he and Malik were heading down here to check in on the government officials. We all know what’s been happening down here. It’s only been getting worse. I ran after Dionaea; I wanted to change his mind, get him to live just a bit longer, but—”

Drosera sputtered out another cough. “Stay out there in that… _stuff _for too long and the voices get to you.”

Boson glared at Ralivil.

Drosera took a quivering breath in, then continued, “Those voices, they all… They all used to be _people. _You could talk to them before this happened. But now, they’re all… gone. They’re just pawns of that RPG-maker thing Malik keeps ranting about, according to him.”

Buzzy Bol peered out of the top of his UFO and hesitantly asked, “Did that happen to… everyone…?”

“Not a lot of them, actually,” Drosera replied. “There’s probably only about five or six, maybe seven individual voices out there. Most of the people that used to work here were evacuated before the situation developed. Those people were separated from the government officials when they… they…”

Drosera took another uneasy breath in.

In an attempt to comfort Drosera, Ralivil put a hand on her shell and told her in a hushed voice, “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay—"

“IT’S NOT OKAY!” Drosera barked. “I don’t know what Anue’s been telling you, but they’re WRONG! There’s no way this can be fixed! Malik said all the options to save _anything _are out of question by some twisted quirk of fate, and I’m more than willing to believe him right now! I don’t know what happened in the time he said he’d build that—”

Drosera suddenly gagged. She felt something hit her pseudo-knees, and she looked down at them. Then she saw it: a drop of her own skin falling onto her skin like melted rubber. Her eyes went wide and her pupils shrank.

She looked up at Ralivil. “One, get your tentacle off me. Two, **run.**”

“Wh-What? No, I can fix this, I can fix this!” Ralivil stammered. “Let me just try…”

A soft, green aura surrounded Ralivil’s tentacle as he prepared a Lifeup Beta. He pressed it against Drosera’s arm, and the green aura slowly made its way toward its recipient. The green aura, instead of surrounding Drosera, was absorbed.

“It… It didn’t work, did it?” Buzzy Bol quietly asked.

Drosera coughed again. “Don’t waste your time on me. Just get back to your ship and go wherever it is you lot are headed to next.”

“No! I… I have to save you somehow!” Ralivil argued, eyes full of despair.

“There’s NO SAVING ME! I’ve already begun melting, just… leave me be, and let me meet the same fate as the others.”

A bigger drop fell from Drosera’s chin.

“…I don’t really want to find out what that’s going to lead to,” Buzzy Bol told Ralivil. “At the very least, we might be able to save ourselves. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

Ralivil’s brow was furrowed as he stared at Buzzy Bol. “…No. We have to save someone else here, too.”

With that, Ralivil whispered an apology to Drosera, then stood up and exited the room. The other Timechasers followed. Out of the hall that led to Drosera, then straight down the hall. The whispering was suffocating. Ralivil did his best to ignore it, but the further down the hall he went, the more his pace slowed. It came to a halt when he found himself face to face with a tall stack of purple boxes. He knew he wouldn’t be able to climb over it.

A loud whispering came from inside one of the boxes. As it grew louder, a face appeared on it, and grew outward into a head. It had a regular skin tone as a Martian, but from its hollow, black eyes, its now horn-like antennae, to the lack of snout it now had, it could barely be described as a Martian anymore. It attempted to converse with Ralivil, but all that came out of its wide, goopy maw was a hissing mess of half-formed words and numbers. Ralivil wanted to look at anything but its blank eyes as it spoke.

The former Martian head melted back into the box. A static formed on the stack of boxes, and in a flash, they disappeared. Buzzy Bol gave Ralivil a soft nudge in the back with his UFO. Understanding what the insectoid meant, he gave Buzzy Bol a nod, then continued forward.

The Timechasers turned the corner, and passed by more doors, tubes, and boxes. Tiny piles of Martian-coloured sludge sitting on the ground inched towards them as they walked, groaning in pain with each movement. Past another corner and through more halls, the Timechasers kept moving. They passed through an open area, littered with strewn vending machine contents, dents in the walls and the odd PK Fire scorch mark. Boson and Arix collected the misplaced Gummi blobs and grenades, making sure to check they weren’t Martian sludges in disguise. The ones that were got thrown back over to the vending machine. Ralivil’s eyestalks perked up slightly at the sound of coherent banter from further down the halls.

Ralivil was guided by the distant chatter as he led the Timechasers to the final hallway. The haze in the final hallway made it impossible to see much further than a couple of steps ahead of them. It was colder than it had ever been down there. Perhaps those two things were why Malik had a flame of PK Fire flickering crazily above his right tentacle as he argued with Dionaea.

“I TOLD you, Dionaea! The officials are GONE! But NO, you just HAD to go and check up on them, and drag ME along with you, and now… now… now… THIS! HAS HAPPENED! I TOLD YOU it was a bad idea!”

As if to prove Malik’s point, a loud gurgle sounded from above them.

“YOU CAN’T HOLD THEM IN THE ROOF FOREVER! WE’RE GOING TO _DIE _HERE!”

Dionaea, who had his arms outstretched and holding a Shield Alpha above himself, responded, “I just wanted to make sure they were going to be fine! I wanted them to be comfortable!”

“They’re not individuals anymore!”

The tears that formed around Dionaea’s eyes instantly turned to ice. “But—”

A loud **crack **came from the Shield. Malik turned his head in the Timechasers’ direction. He growled at them. “Why do you four insist on following me?”

Ralivil began, “Well, I—”

“THAT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!” Malik screamed.

Shoulders hunched and arms pressed against his body, Ralivil gave a glance over his shoulder to his teammates. They looked about as startled as him.

Malik looked back at Dionaea. “Drop the Shield.”

“Wh-What? But they’re right above me!”

“Drop. The Shield.”

“Malik… could you at least explain why? You haven’t been making a lot of sense since you arrived…”

“DROP! THE SHIELD!”

Dionaea flinched – that was all that was needed for the Shield to disappear. Dionaea’s eyes went wide as he looked up. A thick sheet of Martian-coloured sludge dropped down from the ceiling directly onto him. Droplets went flying into the mist – a small droplet landed on Malik’s face, which he wiped away with his free tentacle. Dionaea spat out a piece of sludge as it settled at his feet. It started to creep up his legs. Dionaea’s pupils shrank.

With wide eyes, Dionaea looked back at Malik. “Malik, aren’t you going to do something? Aren’t you going to help me?”

Malik’s only response was the narrowing of his eyes.

“Please! Think about all those times you’ve helped us! Those inventions of yours that made Mars so much better! You wouldn’t turn your back on us now – not when we need your help the most…?”

Malik remained silent.

The Martian goop was up to Dionaea’s waist now. It had expanded outward, starting to take some sort of form.

“Please… You’re still the same man I knew before, aren’t you…?”

Malik said nothing.

The Martian goop has stood itself up. Dionaea’s head was almost touching the ceiling now.

“What are you planning?”

Still, Malik refused to speak.

Dionaea’s face morphed from fear to anger. Before he could act on it, he was pulled under the shifting mass of Martian sludge as a tentacle-like mass emerged from it. Ralivil covered his mouth with both hands as he gasped. The other Timechasers eyes went just as wide as his. The Martian sludge’s tentacle-like mass wrapped itself around Malik’s waist, catching him off guard and dissipating the PK Fire flame. It then flung Malik deeper into the hall. His body slammed against the end wall with a **thud. **The Martian sludge mass made its form – a towering, quadruped _thing _with no eyes and a goopy mouth. It pulsated as it made a gurgling roar at the Timechasers.

The sludge monster swung its right paw at the Timechasers. Boson and Buzzy Bol were able to dart out of the way, and Arix simply teleported a short distance back. Ralivil, however, was caught in the sludge monster’s attack. The other Timechasers stared at the monster’s paw with concern as the air went still. A few silent seconds later, Ralivil popped up from the sludge monster’s shoulder blade, gasping and spitting out a bit of Martian sludge.

“You guys attack from the outside! I’ll try damaging the inside!” Ralivil called out, waving with a tentacle. The other Timechasers nodded.

Ralivil shoved his tentacle back into the sludge monster and prepared a PK Freeze Gamma. A small blue flash came from the sludge monster’s upper leg as the PK Freeze Gamma went off. The sludge monster let out a small yelp.

Boson began throwing grenades at the sludge monster’s left side as Buzzy Bol cast Shield Sigma on himself and his teammates. Arix launched a PK Thunder Alpha, which barely hit the sludge monster’s back. He then switched to a few PK Beams.

The sludge monster barely seemed hurt by the onslaught. It let out a gurgling growl, slowly turned its head to Boson and shot out a multi-coloured beam at him. The beam left Boson’s UFO dented and burned. It wobbled in the air as a thing wisp of smoke came out of its back. Buzzy Bol sharply inhaled as the other insectoid flew his UFO away from the action as gently as he could.

Seeing the damage done, Arix called out to Ralivil, “Ralivil, I don’t suppose you could find a way to deal more damage to this… thing? *click* If that beam hits anyone else, we’re done for.”

Ralivil hummed in thought before replying, “PK Freeze does seem to be its weakness. I’ll see if it has a weak spot.”

With that, Ralivil began trudging through the sludgy bulk of the monster as Arix and Buzzy Bol continued their assault. He made his way to the monster’s head, hoping that would do some good. The sludge monster caught on, and let out a roar. It began jumping up and down, sending shockwaves flying in front of it. Arix stumbled over the shockwaves. He summoned another bolt of PK Thunder Alpha, which landed directly on the monster’s head. Ralivil barely leaned back quickly enough to dodge the bolt. The monster yelped in pain again. It clawed at its head, but accidentally melted its right paw into it. The sludge monster growled as it then stood on its hind legs for a second, trying to get its paw out of its head. The movement caused Ralivil to fall back into the sludge monster’s mass.

It was dark inside the monster. His sense of direction was instantly lost. He thought to himself for a moment, deducing where on the monster he would be, and acted accordingly. He propelled himself downwards.

After Ralivil hadn’t emerged from the sludge monster’s mass after a few seconds, Buzzy Bol hissed to himself, “What is he doing?!”

Ralivil, now in the middle of the sludge monster, outstretched his right tentacle and fired another PK Freeze Gamma. He heard the monster’s howl muffled through itself. He smirked. He got ready to fire another PK Freeze Gamma, but a sharp pain, one he hadn’t felt in a while, flared up from the Prophet’s Mark. It dashed through his tentacle and burst in a brilliant white light. The entire hallway was engulfed in the light as the sludge monster exploded into a million itty bitty pieces. The light faded, and the pieces froze as they fell to the floor, creating a cacophony of tinkling. Ralivil, however, fell with an ungraceful **thud. **

Buzzy Bol hovered down to Ralivil and climbed out of his UFO to ask, “Was that intentional?!”

“Huh… The PK Flash? No…” Ralivil murmured in reply.

A faint **crick **sounded nearby, prompting Buzzy Bol and Ralivil to look to its source. Arix stood nearby, holding Boson’s UFO, but there was something wrong. The cracks on his shell had grown larger. Ralivil and Buzzy Bol’s pupils shrank.

“Arix, your cracks!” Buzzy Bol exclaimed.

“I know,” Arix replied.

“Oh stars, that was because of me, wasn’t it?” Ralivil asked.

“It’s fine, Ralivil. Like you said, you didn’t mean to use it. *beep* I’ll be fine,” Arix assured him.

Perched atop his ashy UFO, Boson added, “Yeah, he’s still walkin’ and talkin’ and ready to slam jam! But, uh… how about we head back to the ship now, huh?”

Ralivil nodded, then pushed himself off the ground. He looked around for a couple of seconds before saying, “Hey, I think the fog’s cleared a bit.”

The other Timechasers looked around for themselves, then nodded. Ralivil led them down the hallway. As they reached the end of the hallway, they looked to where Malik had been thrown by the sludge monster. He wasn’t there anymore, but the trail of thick droplets that had frozen onto the floor did indicate that he wasn’t dead, at least.

* * *

The Timechasers climbed into their ship, which had been piloted over to their location by Anue. For once, Elmadan was awake, though he didn’t look any less tired. He at least managed to get out of the hyberpod.

Anue stared at the Timechasers from under their hood for a few seconds before saying to them, “You took your time.”

“We were just lettin’ out some steam,” Boson replied.

Anue glanced at his UFO for a second, then said, “It must not have gone well.”

Elmadan leaned over to get a look for himself, then drowsily added, “Ehh, I think went pretty good.”

“I suppose I will help with the repairs during our flight to Earth,” Anue stated, turning away from the ship’s control panel.

“To– To EARTH?!” Ralivil exclaimed.

“…Yes. That is where the next Point of Power we will need to claim is.”

Buzzy Bol drifted up to the control panel, then glanced at Anue as he asked, “Which way from here?”

“North-east. But it’s more east-north. It is like… two easts to one north.”

“…I dunno how that makes sense, but that makes sense.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **bijxaxk exa jxkv aobxjp, yrq lkiv cfsb eb zlria obzxii molmboiv. qeb obpq tbob bfqebo exwv xq ybpq lo clodlqqbk bkqfobiv. qebv tbob xii sbov tbfoa, yrq qeb buxzq zlkqbkqp f tfii ibxsb ql vlro fjxdfkxqflk. xkrb txp tbfoaba lrq yv qeb obzlrkqp lc qelpb aobxjp.**
> 
> **lkb lc qeb aobxjp eb zlria exwfiv obzxii txp klq x aobxj xq xii.**


	13. I Think I Think I am Unsure of What to Say

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers arrive on Earth and explore the nearby town. Deepsea shows up again, as does one of the Starmen that was with him in Chapter 3.

The Timechasers’ ship hovered above Earth’s surface, just below the clouds.

“This is the place, right?” Buzzy Bol asked Anue.

Anue nodded.

“Where are we gonna park?” Buzzy Bol followed up.

“Near the Sigismundo, perhaps,” Anue replied.

“Wait, near the what?”

Anue pointed out the ship’s window at the larger ship parked just a few hundred meters away above the forest. It appeared to be made of the same materials as the Celine and the Hagbard, being smaller than the former but larger than the latter. It was shaped like the tip of an arrow.

“…Is that why Malik stole Deepsea’s ID?” Arix questioned aloud.

Everyone but Elmadan nodded.

“Wait, the old guy stole the Deepsea guy’s ID? Was I asleep for that?” Elmadan asked the Timechasers.

“You must have been. *click*”

Buzzy Bol parked the ship so the Sigismundo was in sight, but far enough so it couldn’t take a shot at them. The dropdown ladder was lowered, and the Ralivil and Arix began to climb down. As they did so, Anue sniffed the air.

“What is that horrendous smell?” they inquired.

Ralivil shrugged.

After a moment of thought, Anue said to the Timechasers, “Please move out of the way.”

Ralivil and Arix climbed back into the ship, allowing for Anue to jump through the open hatch and onto the soft, green grass outside.

Anue sniffed the air again. Their tail flicked at the grass tickling it as they looked out into the distance. They took a few steps forward, then hovered above the trees and into the air. They sniffed again, then returned to the ground.

As they climbed up the ladder and back into the ship, Anue stuck their head in and said, “It is from the Point of Power nearby. Mooks have senses of smell, correct? Ralivil, if you follow the smell, it will lead you to the Point of Power.”

“Got it,” Ralivil replied.

With that, Ralivil and Arix climbed back down the ladder again, and Boson and Buzzy Bol followed. Once they were all outside, the ladder was lifted back into the ship and the hatch closed. The grass tickled at his tentacles, causing him to squirm a little.

Buzzy Bol looked at Ralivil and asked, “I’m guessing we’re not going to the Point of Power right now?”

“Yeah, I wanna see more of Earth. There was a guy in Satralia who had a game imported from this planet – he really hyped it up, so I wanna see if the planet holds up.” With that, Ralivil headed off to find the exit of the forest. The other Timechasers followed behind him.

It took a while before they found an edge of the forest. The first thing Ralivil did was look up. The sky overhead was blue, and the clouds stood eerily still. The other Timechasers watched the unmoving sky alongside their team leader.

“Do you think Malik got the Point of Power here?” Buzzy Bol quietly asked.

“I don’t think he’s all that interested in gettin’ ‘em,” Boson replied. “If he was, we’d be as good as gone by now.”

Ralivil scanned the area with his upper eyes, then headed down a dirt path formed by repeated use. The dirt and grass quickly turned to concrete. The Timechasers now stood in an area completely unfamiliar to them. Tall oblongs of brick stood in the sky proudly, but those in between them less so. There were two different species on the paths – Starmen of the regular, Blue and occasionally the Deluxe rank, and bipeds with skin coloured similarly to the Martians’ – except these creatures had long fur atop their heads, and wore clothes. The clothes they wore looked stained, but with what, it was hard to tell. The Starmen barked orders at the bipeds, who could barely raise their arms to make another chip at the marble or take another step on the devices that were hooked up to every building in multiple places.

One of the Blue Starmen walking about the paths spotted the Timechasers, then trotted up to them, calling out, “Hey, uh…! Arix, right?”

Arix replied not with words, but with a simple flash of a green tick from his eye.

“You probably don’t remember me from that time Captain Deepsea went nuts and *click* attacked you back on the mothership, but I’m Telescope,” the Blue Starman said.

“I do remember hearing Deepsea mention your name *beep*,” Arix replied. “I don’t suppose you know where we are? Other than on Earth, I mean.”

“That’s beyond me, too,” Telescope replied. “Captain Deepsea’s been calling it ‘another useless town on another planet waiting for its demise’, though. He’s been acting way more out of it than he *whirr* was on the mothership.”

“Believe me, I’ve known.”

“Yo, wait, hold on,” Boson looked to his teammates, “we only saw the _Sigismundo _when we got here. These Starmen are from the Celine, right? Where is it?”

“Not tooooo far *beep* away,” Telescope replied. “It’s in this other town with a bunch of stuff called ‘snow’.”

As he raised a tentacle to point at one of the bipeds, Ralivil asked Telescope, “Uh, what are those things? Also, have you seen an old white Mook around?”

Telescope looked over at the biped Ralivil pointed at for a moment, then replied, “Oh, those things? Earthlings. I think they’re called ‘humans’? Captain Deepsea *click* ordered them to do a bunch of stuff, like make a statue of… I’m not even sure, and run on these *beep* things they call ‘treadmills’ to power the town. They aren’t very effective, though. They keep stopping and starting. Moreso stopping. It’s very unnatural of them.”

Telescope turned back to Ralivil as he continued, “As for the Mook? No. But *click* Captain Sudis said he saw one that matched your description running around the outskirts of town. Couldn’t *beep* catch him, though.”

Ralivil nodded.

“I’m… *whirr* _really _supposed to be on patrol right now, and Captain Deepsea’s orders were to bring anyone who could mess up what he has going on here… whatever it is… so…”

* * *

“Captain Deepsea, sir! I’ve brought in a group of four who *beep* dared set foot in town!” Telescope yelled at the door.

From the other side, Deepsea’s voice replied, “Bring them *click* *whirr* in.”

The double doors were opened by the two Blue Starmen standing guard on either side of them. Sitting inside on a leather couch, his arms resting on the top, was perhaps the Timechasers’ least favourite person.

Captain Deepsea.

Captain Deepsea looked smugger than Arix had ever seen him. Now that he was no longer part of Commander Inpue’s army, he truly was the highest ranking Starman – at least, in his circle. The static in his eye had built up; it was now so dense that no spark of life, or his past self, could be seen. He wore a cape now. A grey one.

Deepsea smirked – or, well, got as close to smirking as a Starman could get.

“Thanks. Now get back to your station. *whirr*”

Telescope saluted, then teleported out of the tower. The doors were closed.

“Just who I was hoping to see. How’s your pathetic little quest to save everything going? *click*”

“It’s going…” Ralivil looked to his teammates for words, who looked to each other.

“Not *whirr* all that well, I take it.”

“But we’ll still save the galaxy!” Ralivil retorted.

Deepsea cackled. It was different from the last time Arix had heard it. It seemed to have an accent to it, but the closest it could be compared to was Ralivil’s. It was also sharper. Much sharper. “You really haven’t figured it out yet, have you? You can’t do _anything _to stop this. I’ve already got the timeline under my control!”

Wait…

Deepsea laughed to himself again. “I can see it on your dumb *click* *click* faces – you’re awfully confused. Good! It’s *whirr* more entertaining that way.”

“Wait, I thought the RPG-maker was the one tearin’ everything up! What do you–“ Boson’s voice became barely louder than a whisper as he asked, “…Did you make it, dude…?”

“Did Deepsea make me? NO! Of course not! He’s not even _half _as smart as the person who did. But that’s not saying that much!” Deepsea began laughing like it was the funniest joke he had ever heard. Or rather, like it was the funniest joke the RPG-maker had heard.

Deepsea’s laughter was cut by his glare, one that, if looks could kill, would have done so in an instant. “Get out.”

“Wh-What…?” Ralivil stammered.

“Go on! Get *click* *whirr* out of here! Get out of my tower!” Deepsea boomed. His voice crackled with the strain put on it.

“Okay, okay, we will!” Buzzy Bol replied. “Sheesh…”

The doors opened again, and the Timechasers hurriedly shuffled out of Deepsea’s room and out of the nearby exit.

The Timechasers slowly made their way back to the forest, mulling over the events that transpired at the top of the tower Deepsea called his base and what Telescope had told them before that. Whenever the humans could move, they glanced at the Timechasers with wide, fear-filled eyes. The Starmen glared at them as they walked by.

As they reached the edge of the forest they had exit from, they found Anue standing nearby. Their tail slowly swayed as they looked around.

“Oh, hi Anue,” Ralivil greeted. “What are you doing outside the ship? Does Elmadan know?”

“Greetings, Ralivil. I am looking for Malik. I sensed his PSI momentarily while aboard the ship. I have told Elmadan of my whereabouts, do not fret,” Anue replied.

Buzzy Bol told them, “Try to avoid the nearby town if you can help it. It’s really not so hot down there.”

“The Celine’s crew and Deepsea’s down there. *beep*” Arix added.

“Noted,” Anue replied with a small nod.

“Actually, speakin’ of Deepsea, he– well, the leakage, really, mentioned the RPG-maker’s creator,” Boson squinted at Anue as he finished his sentence.

“Boson, don’t,” Ralivil hissed.

“Don’t suppose you’d know who that is, _Anue…?_”

“I do not, _Boson,_” Anue replied. “Though I feel it appropriate to mention now that I have used it myself. That is how I knew of the peril we are faced with much before you did.”

Anue trotted away from the Timechasers, then looked over their shoulder. “Are you headed to the Point of Power next?”

“We are,” Ralivil replied.

“Excellent.” With that, Anue zoomed into the air, becoming but a speck of black on Earth’s blue sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **yuskznotm'y yzoxxotm…**


	14. Live Long and Prosper While the Winter Melts Away

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers head to the Tardrowned Pool. Anue has a talk with Malik. Both go horribly.
> 
> Oh, by the way, a little alien told me that there’s some bolded letters in the next couple of chapters? Don’t know how they got there, but apparently they’ll help with the cipher at the end.

Beyond the old brick building that laid a few hundred meters west of the forest and had a smidge of RPG-maker leakage nibbling at its corners was a large fenced area. The stretch of field, longer than it was wide, was littered with mountains of dirt, metal and the occasional rusted human transport. The torn, rolled up pieces of paper that had come to life batted at Ralivil and **A**rix’s feet, but weren’t much of a problem otherwise. The trek to the nearby Point of Power was long and quiet.

Things were looking alright until the Timechasers reached the narrow dirt trail that led to the Point of Power. Standing in front of the trail were four Starmen – two Starman Supers, one Blue Starman and one Ghost of Starman.

The Blue Starman was the first to spot the Timechasers. He dramatically pointed at them once they stood only a couple of feet away and boomed, “Stop right there, horsemen!”

The Blue Starman paused before his pose faltered. He leaned over to the Starman Super who stood on his right, quietly asking, “Those _are _the horsemen, right?”

The Starman Super muttered to themselves and pointed at each of the Timechasers, then replied to the Blue Starman equally as quiet, “Yeah, *click* that’s them.”

“Stop right there, horsemen!” the Blue Starman repeated, reassuming his dramatic pose.

“You guys are from the Sigismundo, right?” Arix asked.

“…I was JUST about to say that! *whirr*” the second Starman Super shouted.

“*click* We’re only here on Malik’s say so. The old man kinda just took control of the ship without much of an explanation. Best we gotten is somethin’ ‘bout an ‘RPG-maker’, some leakage from it, an’ you four. *beep*” the Ghost of Starman explained.

“And we’re here to stop you! *beep*” the Blue Starman added. “**W**e can’t allow you to reach this… *whirr…*” He leaned over to the Starman Super standing next to him and asked, “What did he call it?”

“A Point of Power.”

“This Point of Power!”

The second Starman Super then explained, “We’re the four strongest Starmen on the Sigismundo! *click* We’ll each face off against one o—”

The Ghost of Starman smacked him on the back of his head. “*click* Don’t tell them our strategy, idiot! *beep*”

The Blue Starman began, “Take this Point of Power from us…”

The four Starmen readied their attacks.

“…if you dare!”

Four PK Beams of varying strength fired from the hands of the enemy Starmen – two PK Beam Betas flew towards Buzzy Bol and Boson, and two PK Beam Gammas shot towards Ralivil and Arix. Buzzy Bol managed to dart out of the way of his. Boson tried to dodge as well, but his UFO got scraped by the beam. Ralivil and Arix weren’t quite as quick, and got hit directly. The Starmen then teleported in front of their respective opponents – the Ghost of Starman to Ralivil, the Blue Starman to Arix, and the two Starman Supers to Buzzy Bol and Boson. Immediately, Buzzy Bol cast PSI Shield Sigma on himself and his teammates.

Ralivil shot a PK Freeze Gamma at the Ghost of Starman. The Ghost of Starman’s right arm got frozen stiff. The Ghost of Starman fired a regular beam with their left arm. Ralivil’s shoulder got burned by the attack, but it wasn’t the worst pain he had felt. He could ignore it.

Arix and the Blue Starman shot PK Beam Gammas at each other continuously. As Arix shot yet another PK Beam Gamma, the Blue Starman teleported away. Before Arix could figure out where he had gone, he felt a PK Beam strike him in the back. The Blue Starman teleported back in front of him and followed up with a regular beam.

Buzzy Bol and Boson had another pair of PK Beam Betas shot at them, which they dodged yet again. **A**fter circling anticlockwise around the PK Beams, they followed up with their own. They didn’t do as much damage as the PK Beams from their enemies would have done, but it didn’t matter too much. They would have been down soon enough.

The Starman Supers were the first to admit defeat. They were a bit battered from the beams shot at them by Buzzy Bol and Boson, but ultimately just fed up. They teleported away from the scene, and Buzzy Bol and Boson flew ahead to the Point of Power.

Arix and the Blue Starman had both run out of power to continue firing P**K** Beam Gammas. The Blue Starman had resorted to using only regular beams while continuing his strategy of teleporting about. Arix still had a smidge of power he snagged from the Blue Starman via PSI Magnet, and there was something he could try with it. Holding his right arm up, lightning crackled at its tip. He stood still as the Blue Starman continued to teleport around him. A bolt of PK Thunder shot down from the sky, and directly hit the Blue Starman just as he teleported in front of him. The Blue Starman fell backwards, dazed, before teleporting away.

The Ghost of Starman, even after all of Ralivil’s PK Freezes, was still standing. Ralivil was tiring, but continued to summon his strength and fight. As the Ghost of Starman got assaulted by Tentacle Slaps to the face, they looked around to see the other Starmen that had been with them were gone. They shrugged, then teleported away as well. Ralivil fell flat on his front. Arix, who had stayed behind to watch Ralivil fight, padded over and helped the green Mook up. They headed over to the Point of Power wordlessly.

The Point of Power was a pool of bubbling black liquid. Scraps of metal poked out from the pool’s surface, and a yellow human transport with an elongated claw sat at the back end. It also stunk really badly. The closest Ralivil could compare it to was the stink of the surface of Mars.

The usual pain from the Prophet’s Mark flared up again. A burst of light also emanated from it as well. Ralivil clenched his jaw as the pain from the Prophet’s Mark spread and his vision went white. It was all routine.

As the white that clouded his vision cleared, Saturn came back into view. He was in front of a cave this time around. The last time he had been in a cave during the strange occurrences he had at the Points of Power was…

Ralivil cautiously approached the cave and peered his eyestalks inside. Sanded rock made for sitting on, old hyberpod against the back wall – yup, this was the cave he had been placed in during his visits to the Misplaced Treetrunk and the **E**ye in the Pyramid. This was the blue Mook’s home. If Ralivil’s last encounter with him was anything to go by, then he wouldn’t be too happy to see him again.

A shuffling came from inside the cave, and Ralivil quickly swung his eyestalks out. He ran down the outer left wall of the cave and pressed his back up against it. Despite his better judgement, he still looked out to the cave’s mouth. The blue Mook, who had grown more since his last meeting with Ralivil, slowly slithered out of the cave. He scanned the area for a moment, then cast his eyes back at the cave. It was hard for Ralivil to tell from where he was, but the blue Mook looked… guilty. He looked ahead again, then ran.

Realisation hit Ralivil like a truck.

His lower tentacles gave out.

He wasn’t looking anywhere in particular anymore.

His mind ran wild with one thought only: _‘Was it my fault?’_

Tears welled in his eyes.

He blinked them away.

The pool of black liquid returned.

He looked to his sides to find the other Timechasers sitting next to him. Buzzy Bol and Boson had parked their UFOs on the grass and emerged from them. They all wore equally concerned expressions.

“You were sittin’ here all zoned out for ages, Ralivil. Like, half an hour, probably,” Boson told him. It was the softest Ralivil had ever heard his voice.

“I don’t know what’s been going *click* on during our visits, but if you don’t want to visit them anymore, we understand,” Arix assured him.

Ralivil wiped his lower eye.

“You wanna head back to the ship?” Buzzy Bol asked.

Ralivil cast a weary glance to Buzzy Bol and nodded.

* * *

Anue’s search for Malik had been fruitless thus far. They weren’t one to give up easily, though. He had to be around. They knew so. But the idea of taking a break on the ship was tempting.

A shrill scream from the Sigismundo cleared any thoughts of taking a break in Anue’s mind. They bolted through the air to the Sigismundo and descended onto its roof, their feet touching the cool metal silently. Standing on the balls of their feet, they slowly moved toward the edge of the roof and crouched down. They peered down at the elderly Mook and the four Starmen standing in front of him – two Starman Supers, a Blue Starman and a Ghost of Starman.

“They were really *beep* strong, Malik! And they were only using regular beams!” one of the Starman Supers cried.

“Or are you just WEAK?!” Malik growled in reply.

The Starman Super’s gaze fell to the ground.

“I can’t BELIEVE YOU LOT! I give you a simple task – stop the horsemen from getting to the Point of Power – and you FAIL! HORRIBLY FAIL!”

“*click* But didn’t you say that we’re all doomed? *beep*” the Ghost of Starman asked.

Malik’s reply was too quiet for Anue to hear, but if they had to guess, it was along the lines of, “I’m trying to stop it.”

The rest of the conversation was nothing noteworthy to Anue – just Malik chewing out the quartet of Starmen for not defeating the Timechasers. There were a couple of threats thrown in, both aimed at the Ghost of Starman. He eventually sent them inside the ship.

Standing back up, Anue told Malik, “Shouting at your crew like that will not gain you any respect.”

Malik’s eyes swerved to the roof of the Sigismundo, and he shouted back, “I’m not looking for respect, I’m looking for a way to fix this whole mess.”

Anue jumped down from the roof and slowed their descent once close to the ground. They landed on the balls of their feet and looked at Malik. “If you intend for the Starmen aboard the Sigismundo to help, I doubt that they will before too long. Your attitude is unsavoury.”

“This is the _end of the universe_ we’re talking about here,” Malik growled, “and you think I shouldn’t be upset about this?!”

“I am upset about this as well, Malik, but I do not take my anger out on others.”

Malik’s voice dropped to a whisper. A broken smile curled onto his lips. “You don’t _get it. _I have spent _countless hours _thinking of ways to stop the RPG-maker. I have _lost sleep_ because of this.” His tentacles curled into fists. His voice got louder. “I’m fighting to _live another day! _I’m fighting to let others live another day! You don’t get that, do you? Do you? DO YOU?! _YOU DO**N**’T GET IT!!_”

“I am not like the rest of my kind!” Anue snapped.

Silence hung thick in the air. Anue’s tail lashed.

It seemed like forever – maybe it was – before either one of them spoke up again. Malik quietly added, “For someone looking to change their identity, you’re doing a lot of the same thing you did before.”

From the direction of the town, a loud crackle echoed. Both Anue and Malik looked in the direction of the crackle.

“Deepsea,” Anue muttered.

“The horsemen told you,” Malik noted aloud, looking back at Anue.

Anue’s tail lashed again. “They have names, you know.”

“I don’t care for them. Are you thinking of stopping it?” Malik asked.

Anue nodded.

Malik cackled. “It’s too late for the guy who got possessed! That machine took away any heart and soul it could have had!”

As Malik continued to laugh to himself, the gears in Anue’s mind began to turn. “Heart and soul…?”

Anue took to the sky again, startling Malik. No doubt the Timechasers would be back on the ship by now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **wdad'w toenq sa wdad'w ualporvnc**   
**trmf io agjhl e hkxr ip i rege et s lnta id**   
**auap dsh nnqe NS**


	15. Sticks and Stones and Traffic Cones May Keep Me Safe While They Break My Bones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers go to fight Deepsea with Anue! More or less.

Anue was not one to use utilities as per normal – when they arrived at the Timechasers’ ship, they simply teleported inside. The golden glow that so often leaked out of the sole hyberpod inside blanketed the interior, and Elmadan’s mutterings accompanied it. Anue was usually pleased when it happened, but this time around, they frowned underneath their hood. They took two steps toward the hyberpod and crouched down next to it. As they suspected, the muttering was laced with pain. They couldn’t quite make sense of what he was saying, either.

_‘Maybe he…?’ _Anue shook the thought away. _‘No. It’s from a power far greater than him, he shouldn’t be able to understand it.’_

The glow faded away, and Elmadan went quiet again. Anue stood up. A ping from the ship’s control panel gained their attention, and they padded over to it. On the small screen in the middle of the control panel were the Timechasers standing under the ship. After a little bit of time spent reminding themselves which button did what, they opened the hatch and lowered the ladder so they could come inside.

“Hello again. You came not a moment too soon,” Anue greeted the Timechasers as they shuffled inside the ship, the hatch closing behind them. “How was the trip to the Point of **P**ower?”

They were met with silence for a few drawn-out moments as they Timechasers glanced between each other, before Buzzy Bol replied, “…Successful.”

“…Good to hear. Anything noteworthy?”

Silence, again.

“…No, not really.”

_‘Suspicious,’ _Anue thought. “While you were at the Point of Power, I found Malik, and he—”

The Timechasers gave Anue odd looks as they flinched and gritted their teeth. Silence hung thick in the air before the hyberpod creaked open just enough for Elmadan to poke an eyestalk out. The golden glaze had become stronger, to the point where his iris had turned completely golden. His sclera was a few shades lighter than the iris.

“Hey Anue, did you feel that…?” he wearily asked.

They stood still for a couple of seconds before slowly nodding.

“Wha’dya think it is?”

Their voice no louder than a whisper, Anue replied, “…We weren’t fast enough.”

The Timechasers all let out a, “huh?”

“Time has ended.”

The announcement left everyone wide-eyed. To imagine such a thing could occur seemed impossible. Something that had existed since the birth of the universe itself… gone. There was no denying the truth of the matter, though.

Ralivil spoke up, his voice cracking, “But I thought visiting the Points of Power would help stop it!” Arix put an arm around Ralivil.

“This was all part of your little plan, wasn’t it?” Boson growled, throwing a glare at Anue.

“I did not plan on this, believe me!” **A**nue argued.

“Guyyyyys, I gotta rechaaaaaaarge. Could you, like… not?” Elmadan murmured from within the hyberpod before retracting his eyestalk and closing the lid.

Anue cleared their throat before replying, “My apologies.”

Silence hung in the air again before Arix stated, “You were gonna say something, Anue? *click*”

“Yes! Yes, I was. I found Malik, and he said something that made me realise that we could free Captain Deepsea from the RPG-maker’s influence,” Anue explained. “I do have to make some preparations first. Arix, could you come with me outside?”

Arix nodded. With that answer, Anue reopened the hatch and teleported outside. Arix climbed down the drop ladder after them. Once his feet touched the ground, the hatch closed behind them. Anue was standing not too far away, looking up at the sky.

“…A shame how no other beings will know what it is like to live again,” they murmured.

As Arix walked over to their side, he asked, “Are you okay?”

“Well enough. Come along.”

Anue led Arix into the forest, quite a distance away from the ship and the town. It was quiet. Quiet in the way that it overwhelms you; that it deafens you and clouds your thoughts.

After a point, Anue came to a stop.

“Malik said that Captain Deepsea would have lost any heart and soul he may have had by being infected with the RPG-maker’s leakage. I apologise for what I will have to do, but I am afraid there is no other way.”

Anue’s hands slowly rose to their hood, and pulled it back. Their long ears flopped momentarily before standing upright again. Light yellow eyes with dark sclera looked over their shoulder.

“…C… Commander…?!”

Anue turned to face Arix. “I thought you deserved to know the truth. Thank you for being so loyal.”

Anue slowly walked up to Arix and placed a hand on his chest. Their voice lowered to a whisper as they closed their eyes and told Arix, “I truly am sorry.”

Light yellow PSI surrounded Anue’s hand, which then became light pink as their hand melted into Arix’s chest.

* * *

Anue teleported back into the ship after some minutes that no longer existed. They did not open the hatch.

“Oh, hey Anue!” Buzzy Bol said upon seeing Anue return.

Pushing himself up from the ground, Ralivil asked, “Where’s Arix?”

Anue pressed their lips together. “…We were ambushed by some Starmen. Malik’s, I take it. I managed to get away, but Arix…” Their breath softly hitched.

“HE’S DEAD?” Ralivil cried, jumping to his tentacles.

“No! No, he is still alive. He simply got captured by the Starmen. The Sigismundo took off before I could retrieve him,” Anue reassured him.

Ralivil slowly sat down again. “Oh.”

Anue followed up with, “I finished my preparations for freeing Captain Deepsea before that incident, however. Shall we be on our way?”

Ralivil was still for a moment before nodding slightly.

Anue opened the hatch for the Timechasers. After they had exited the ship, they closed the hatch and teleported outside. Boson hovered down from the sky and squinted at Anue momentarily before looking at the other Timechasers.

“The Sigismundo ain’t here no more. Guess Anue was telling the truth about _that,_” he told them.

The Timechasers followed Anue into the town. It was completely still as well. Both human and Starman alike were frozen in place like figurines. There was no need to convince every Starman that they meant no harm – they couldn’t hear them anymore.

The entire trip up to the top of Deepsea’s tower was silent. It seemed to drag on forever, yet there was no forever that it could have dragged on for. Anue gave a quick, polite knock on the door to Deepsea’s office.

“Hello, are you in there, Captain Deepsea?” Anue asked.

There was no reply. Anue hummed to themselves, then turned to the Timechasers.

“Stand back,” they ordered. The Timechasers did as they were told.

Anue took a step away from the door, then held out their right hand. It glowed light yellow for a moment, before changing to purple and shooting out a beam. The beam obliterated the door as soon as it made contact. The sawdust that remained of the door stood static in the air for a few moments before teleporting onto the floor, spread out all over. Now staring them down was Deepsea, who had gotten up from the leather couch.

“Finally come to challenge me, **I**npue? *click* *whirr*” Deepsea asked.

Ralivil crept behind Anue and warily peered past them at Deepsea. He then turned his eyestalks to the hooded alien and quietly asked, “Why did he call you the wrong name?”

Anue’s ears folded back slightly. “…It’s… **n**othing.”

As Anue strode into Deepsea’s office, the Timechasers followed behind them. Anue stared Deepsea directly in the eye.

“You should know why I am here, RPG-maker.”

Deepsea scoffed. “I sure do! But *click* *click* do you really want to save this vessel when it’s already too late for the world?”

“Saving one person is all I can do now. If not this timeline’s Deepsea…” Anue held out their arms, ready for battle. “…then surely the rest!”

“Funny how *click* *whirr* *click* you think of these robots as _people._”

Anue looked over their shoulder at the Timechasers. “Get ready to do battle. Just wear him down – if he dies, my plan will fail.”

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol nodded.

Immediately, Deepsea fired a PK Beam at the Timechasers and Anue. Anue gracefully jumped away and both UFOs cleared the way for Ralivil to dodge. He slithered up to the Starman Deluxe and fired a PK Freeze Gamma at him. Buzzy Bol and Boson shot beams at him. Deepsea glared at the two UFOs, then raised a hand into the air. Cosmic energy swirled around his hand, which grew and grew until it hung over the entire room. Buzzy Bol hurriedly set up a PSI Shield Sigma as the yellow, blue and white PSI stars emerged and shot down towards the Timechasers. The blows of the stars were softened by the shields. Buzzy Bol then cast a second shield, a PSI Reflect, onto Ralivil. Ralivil gave Buzzy Bol a smile.

Boson glared at Anue, who had taken cover in the doorframe at the end of the room. “Yo Anue! You gonna help out or what?!”

Anue was silent for a moment before quietly sighing. “Very well.” They held out their right hand, and a light yellow glow surrounded it. The glow then changed to purple, and a beam shot out of their hand. The beam brushed over Ralivil’s head as he ducked, and it hit Deepsea directly in the eye. He let out a howl of pain, and rubbed at his eye.

Ralivil wrapped his right tentacle around Deepsea’s right leg, then used his left tentacle to grab Deepsea’s right leg and pull him to the ground. A hallow clang rang out throughout the office. Ralivil’s right tentacle chilled, and a burst of PK Freeze Gamma erupted from it. The ice froze Deepsea’s leg in place. He glanced down at it with a choppy whirr. He propped himself up on his left arm and raised his right again. Another round of PK Starstorm flew around the room momentarily, before it all flew toward Ralivil. The PSI Reflect Buzzy Bol had cast on him earlier bounced the stars back at Deepsea. Deepsea frowned deeply, then began to whirr loudly. Ralivil went in for a Tentacle Slap, but as soon as he touched Deepsea, he recoiled with a pained yelp. The ice on Deepsea’s leg soon started melting.

“Is he… using his whirring to increase his body temperature?!” Buzzy Bol exclaimed.

Deepsea’s whirring stopped, and he gave Buzzy Bol as close to a smirk as a Starman could give. Buzzy Bol let out a light chuckle.

“Well, I hate to say it, but you’ve just put yourself in grave danger.”

“On the *click* *whirr* contrary, I’ve increased my firepower tenfold.”

“Uh oh.”

Deepsea fired a PK Beam at Buzzy Bol. It immediately did heavy damage to his UFO, even with the PSI Shield up. It shattered immediately after the blow.

Boson pulled out a grenade, but was stopped from detonating it by Anue shouting, “Boson, stop!”

Boson glared at Anue again.

“If you use that, it will damage Captain Deepsea too much! His body needs to be kept in as good of a condition as possible!” Anue explained.

“Fun police,” Boson muttered as he put the grenade away. He then opted to shoot some beams at him. Deepsea shielded himself with an arm. It began to dent, but Anue didn’t show any sign of concern.

Deepsea turned his gaze to Ralivil, then lunged. Ralivil quickly slid out of the way, then fired a PK Freeze Gamma at his back. The attack didn’t seem to affect him as much as before. Deepsea got to his feet and chuckled as he turned to face Ralivil.

“Did you really *click* *click* think that _PK Freeze _would hurt me now? I’m pipin’ hot!” He held up his hands as he said, “Let’s finish this the old fashioned way. *click* *whirr*”

“But you’re a Starman…? If you’re implying we use tentacle kung-fu, then I’m pretty sure Starmen don’t use… that…” Ralivil replied. “Also, didn’t you just say that you’re piping hot?”

Deepsea gave him a Starman equivalent of a smirk. He dived at Ralivil, left arm pointed out for a Forceful Jab. Ralivil ducked, then rolled to the right. Boson shot more beams at him. Deepsea fell to the floor again, but quickly got back to his feet. He took a single pace over to Ralivil, then raised his right foot. Ralivil rolled to the left as Deepsea slammed his foot down on the ground. The impact made a hole in the floor which he struggled to get his foot out of. During this time, Ralivil held out his right tentacle and focused his energy to it. As Deepsea pulled his foot out from the floor and spun around to face Ralivil, there was a soft pain from the Prophet’s Mark. The air chilled, and a burst of pure psychic energy erupted from Ralivil’s tentacle. Ralivil squeezed his eyes shut as soft pink glow filled the room before light blue lines and geometric shapes began flashing throughout the room. When the flashing died down, Ralivil opened his eyes to Deepsea lying face down on the floor again.

Ralivil looked over his shoulder at Anue. “Was that too much…?”

Anue shook their head. They stepped towards Deepsea’s body and knelt in front of him as a light yellow glow surrounded their hand. The aura turned light blue, and Anue pressed their hand to Deepsea’s head.

As they retracted their hand, they muttered to themselves, “Still alive.”

Anue revealed their other hand, which quickly gained the same glow as the first. They held Deepsea’s body and propped him up on the leather couch, now ripped and burned from the fight. They let go of Deepsea, then took a couple of steps back. They held their hands up to their chest, as if they were holding a ball. The glow around their hands changed from light blue to light pink, and a glowing ball, very faintly blue in hue, appeared between them. They grasped the ball and strode up to Deepsea’s body. They pressed the ball to his chest. A light pink glow surrounded Deepsea’s body, and the ball melted into it. The glow around Deepsea’s body strengthened for a moment before fading away.

Anue stepped away from Deepsea’s body again. They glanced to the Timechasers. “Go to the back wall.”

The Timechasers did as they were told and pressed up against the back wall of the office.

Anue held their hands together, and underneath their hood, they closed their eyes. They began muttering alien words, and a silvery blue glow began to surround their body. They held out their hands, thumbs side by side, and the outline of a square formed in front of them. The square travelled towards Deepsea’s body, and once it was only a few centimeters away, it extended into a cube around him. There was a flash, and once the light faded, Deepsea’s body had disappeared. In its place, a small orb of light with the word “deepsea” seemingly inscribed in it hovered in the air above the leather couch. Anue strode up to it and gently grabbed it. They then let it into the air, and it disappeared.

“…What was that?” Ralivil asked.

Anue turned to face the Timechasers, and explained, “I inserted a… special something into Deepsea’s body. That something destroyed all the leakage inside, as well as repaired any remains of his heart and soul that were destroyed by it.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“…It is difficult to explain. But essentially, when Captain Deepsea was infected by the RPG-maker’s leakage, it took away his ability to care and feel. Those things reside in his Magicant, and the something I inserted into him went there.”

“Magicant?”

“It is not relevant to the situation, let me continue my explanation of what the something did,” Anue stated. “After the something found its way to Captain Deepsea’s Magicant, I turned him into a file. I then sent it out into the universe to overwrite every timeline’s Captain Deepsea, to make sure nothing similar to what happened to our Captain Deepsea will ever happen again.””

The Timechasers were silent as they furrowed their brows trying to make sense of Anue’s words.

Noticing this, Anue explained, “Files, put simply, are the core of our existence. Without them, we would not exist.”

After the Timechasers thought some more, Ralivil asked, “…Aaaand the RPG-maker is destroying our ‘files’?”

“Not exactly. It is destroying the _code _in which our files are put into. There is a difference.” Anue then trotted to the door, then stopped beside the Timechasers to tell them, “Come along. There is a Point of Power on Mercury somewhere. While it would be useless for us to go there now, Malik will still be expecting us. We may be able to find Arix there.”

With that, Anue trotted into the hall and out of the building. The Timechasers watched as they did so, then exchanged glances.

As Ralivil looked down the hall again, he said, “Maybe you’re right, Boson…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **basr xt agdp unze qg htwc basr xt agdp**


	16. Needles Live in Haystacks Like a Swarm of Tiny Drones

Anue had told everyone that it would be quite a while until they arrived at Mercury, about as long as it took to get from Jupiter to Mars. They advised Ralivil and Boson to get as much rest as possible, while they and Buzzy Bol would take turns steering the ship. It was hard for Ralivil to sleep, though. Worries about the future and questions about Anue he couldn’t just ask swarmed in his mind. He managed to nap for bits at a time, but at the rate he was going at, it wasn’t going to be enough to warrant a good night’s sleep.

After one nap, Ralivil woke up to find the whole ship coated in a golden light. Both Boson and Buzzy Bol were asleep, and Anue was at the control panel, seemingly unbothered by the glow. Ralivil glanced around the ship to try and figure out where it was coming from, but it faded before he could find out. Just a moment later, the lid of the hyberpod creaked open, revealing a very tired and very panicked Elmadan. His eyes, wide open for the first time in a while, darted around the ship before landing on Ralivil.

“You’re awake…?” he quietly asked, his voice shaking.

“Yeah… I’m awake,” Ralivil replied.

“Oh, thank the stars! Thank the stars!” Elmadan exclaimed as he crawled out of the hyberpod and over to Ralivil.

The golden glaze over Elmadan’s eyes had gotten significantly worse. His irises were practically golden now, and it was impossible to distinguish his pupils from them. The golden glaze was much more present in his sclera now as well, making them yellow.

Elmadan’s voice lowered to a whisper as he told Ralivil, “Listen, this is gonna sound crazy, but it’s true, it’s all true. Ever since Anue did this… thing to me back at my base on Saturn, I just keep getting more and more fatigued and I didn’t know why for the longest time. I think… I think it’s those ‘powers of insight’ Anue mentioned back when we landed on Mars. And recently, I’ve been having these… moments, where I just start hurting and nothing I say sounds right and—”

Elmadan’s breath hitched. He wrapped his tentacles around himself and squeezed himself. He furiously blinked, then continued, “Nothing I say sounds right and I think… I think that’s what they meant. I don’t think I was supposed to know, but now that I do… it’s painful… and I… I…”

“Deep breaths. Take your time.” Ralivil was as concerned for Elmadan as Elmadan was scared. And truth be told, Ralivil wasn’t sure how much longer he could hold back his tears while watching Elmadan do the same.

After Elmadan had levelled his breaths, he continued, “…Anue told me about one of your powers while you guys were down on a planet – I think it was Jupiter? – it doesn’t matter. Anue told me that you had a power fuelled by emotion, and one type of it had some sort of use outside of a battle. I dunno if it’ll work, but… I want you to use it on me.”

“What?!”

Elmadan shushed him. “Keep it down, you’re gonna catch Anue’s attention!”

“Sorry, sorry. But are you sure? I usually only use it for finishing off enemies…”

“I don’t care. I just want this golden nightmare to end.”

Ralivil inhaled. “Alright. I’ll try.”

He sat in thought for a couple of moments, trying to figure out how to go about things. He then put his hands on Elmadan’s shoulders, closed his eyes and focused his energy on his tentacles. A soft pain came from the Prophet’s Mark. The ship went dark, and Elmadan began to glow white. Ralivil gripped Elmadan’s shoulders, as if he feared they could slip away from him. There was a brief flash of white from Elmadan, before the ship was filled with a pink light. The pink light slowly faded as a golden orb began to float out of Elmadan’s chest. Ralivil warily opened his eyes to see the golden orb hovering between him and Elmadan, before it hovered over to the right wall.

After a moment, Elmadan closed his eyes and sighed, smiling for the first time. Ralivil relaxed his hands, then pulled them back to his side. Elmadan flopped onto his back, murmuring, “It’s over.”

He rubbed his lower eye, then looked up at Ralivil. Gone was the golden glaze. “Thank you.” He wearily raised a tentacle as he asked, “Up top?”

Ralivil gave Elmadan a gentle hi-tentacle. He then looked up to see Anue facing them. Despite their eyes not being visible underneath their hood, Ralivil could still feel the anger bristling on their fur.

“What did you do,” Anue demanded.

“I… uh… I used that special PSI move I have to get, uh…” Ralivil pointed to the golden orb, “that thing… out of Elmadan…”

“You should not have done that.”

Elmadan squinted at Anue as Ralivil stammered, “Wh-Why not?”

“That was the one reliable way I– _we _could have gotten insight on our situation. That orb won’t last long by itself!”

“Woah woah woah, hold it. Dial it back. _Why _is that?” Elmadan questioned.

Anue sighed. “…Long ago, much before civilisation emerged on the major planets of this solar system, there was a society of insectoids on the dwarf planet Eris. These insectoids had something they called the Apple of Enlightenment. The Apple of Enlightenment gave prophecies and wisdom to the insectoids of Eris for many generations. Some said the Apple of Enlightenment had a life of its own. Everything changed when an otherworldly monster known as Gargiathan arrived in this galaxy and attacked Eris. While the insectoids escaped and made their homes elsewhere, the Apple was destroyed. One Erisian insectoid named Monochrome believed that the Apple would reincarnate itself throughout the generations, as would he. I don’t believe Monochrome reincarnated, but I know for certain the Apple of Enlightenment did.”

“How?” Elmadan asked.

“Because you are the most recent reincarnation, Elmadan.”

Elmadan sat up in a flash as he screamed, “WHAT?!”

Buzzy Bol and Boson stirred awake, mumbling to themselves.

“What the heck is goin’ on?” Boson mumbled.

Elmadan pointed at Anue as he said, “They just said I’m the reincarnation of an _apple!_”

“…Wack.”

“Like it, or believe it, or not, it is true,” Anue told Elmadan. “What I did to you back on Saturn was to awaken the Apple of Enlightenment. It – or rather, its powers – were lying dormant in you up until then. The Apple of Enlightenment was part of your very being, Elmadan. The act of Ralivil removing it was an act of removing part of yourself.”

“Well if it was a part of myself, then maybe it would have known better than to subject me to the nightmare that is speaking _nonsense _and putting me in pain!” Elmadan replied. “And maybe _you,_” he pointed accusingly at Anue, “would have known better than to awaken that dumb Apple and make me need to sleep all the time from how much that dumb Apple put me through without me knowing! How much help was I, anyway?!”

Anue looked away. “…Much.”

Elmadan glared at the floor and mumbled, “I doubt it.”

Anue looked back at Elmadan. “I did not know you had realised what was happening to you… why did you not tell me?”

Elmadan growled as he flopped back onto the floor. “You wouldn’t get it.”

Anue stared at Elmadan for a moment, then to the golden orb that was the remains of the Apple of Enlightenment. “The rest of the Apple should last about two more prophecies. Perhaps just one. It is hard to say.”

Buzzy Bol drifted up to Anue and quietly asked, “You want me to drive now?”

Anue nodded.

* * *

Mercury was much smaller than any of the other planets the Timechasers had visited. It looked so lonely compared to the other planets, even with the Sigismundo parked just above its surface – at least, Ralivil thought so.

Elmadan waved goodbye as the Timechasers and Anue headed out of the ship. Mercury’s surface was warm, but not to the point of uncomfort. As suspected, Malik was nearby. He darted from one crater to another, looking for something. He didn’t appear to be having any luck.

He looked up to see the Timechasers and Anue just a short distance away. He ran up to them and growled, “Figured I’d find you lot here.”

“As did we,” Anue replied.

Malik squinted as he scanned the group. “…Where’s the stabilizer?”

Anue cocked their head slightly as they let out a hum of inquiry. Their head perked back up as they asked, “Oh, do you mean Arix?”

Malik was silent.

“Anue said you captured him,” Ralivil said, frowning at Malik. “If that’s true, give him back!”

Malik raised an eyebrow. “What? What are you blathering about, Pestilence?”

Ralivil squinted slightly. “…My name’s _Ralivil._”

“Pah, I don’t care!” Malik replied with a dismissive wave of his tentacle.

“As Ralivil said, you captured Arix. Please give him back,” Anue told Malik.

“I still don’t know what you’re goin’ on about!” Malik yelled. “If the strongest of the lot aboard my ship are useless, then why would I replace them with just ONE STARMAN?!”

“Please go and check the Sigismundo. You may have forgotten,” Anue told Malik.

Malik stood still for a couple of moments, completely silent, before murmuring to himself, “…_Did _I capture the stabilizer…?”

Malik ran off to the Sigismundo. Anue turned their head to the Timechasers and told them, “Let us look for an entrance to the Point of Power here.”

Buzzy Bol raised an eyebrow as he asked, “Didn’t you say it would be useless for us to go to it?”

“It is better than not going to it at all. You may still be able to learn a PSI ability or two from there. Now, let us hurry, before Malik gets back.”

The Timechasers went together, while Anue went by themselves. Ralivil wasn’t in any big hurry to find the Point of Power. It wasn’t even what he was focused on.

“Do you guys think Arix is…” It almost hurt Ralivil to say, “…gone?”

Both Buzzy Bol and Boson looked up from the rocky surface of Mercury at Ralivil.

“…Probably. Though there’s a part of me that hopes Anue is telling the truth,” Buzzy Bol replied, looking back down at the ground.

“Bro, you _know _they ain’t,” Boson told Buzzy Bol.

“I know, I know.”

“…Do you think Arix was the thing that got put into Deepsea?” Ralivil asked.

Buzzy Bol and Boson fell silent as they thought.

Ralivil continued, “I was just– I just thought, because they’re both Starmen, it’d make sense, right? And Arix really nice… so it’d make sense to put him into Deepsea’s… uh… Magi… Magicant, right?”

Buzzy Bol gave a simple, “Yeah.”

“Yeah.”

The three Timechasers continued searching for something that would lead them to the Point of Power in silence for what seemed like forever. It may as well have been, with time dead and all.

“…Guys?”

“Yeah, Ralivil?”

“What’s up, dog?”

“I miss Arix.”

“Yeah…”

“…Me too…”

* * *

“Did any of you find anything?” Anue asked the Timechasers.

Ralivil shook his head as Buzzy Bol replied, “Na, sorry.”

“It is fine. It is no longer essential for us to go there anymore, anyway.” Anue looked up at the stars briefly before telling the Timechasers, “It is best we head back into the ship for now. We must get some more rest before we head to our next destination.”

Buzzy Bol and Boson agreed, the latter reluctantly, and they headed back to the ship with Anue. They had gone a few meters toward the ship when Boson looked behind him to see Ralivil hadn’t moved.

“You comin’, dog?” he called out.

Ralivil blinked as he looked at Boson. “Huh? Uh, no, I think I’ll stay out here a little longer!”

“Stargazin’? Aight!” With that, Boson turned back around and headed for the ship.

Once Buzzy Bol, Boson and Anue were out of sight, Ralivil looked up at the stars. They were frozen in place, and no longer twinkled as they did in the past. The sight sparked an off sense of nostalgia in him. In that moment, Ralivil yearned for the days before the Prophet’s Mark appeared more than he ever did. If it weren’t for it, he wouldn’t be there on Mercury, time frozen around him, with only a select few people able to move as well…

Out of the corner of his upper eyes, he spotted Malik slink out of the Sigismundo. He had seen him run out of it earlier, after he had checked the ship for Arix. He wasn’t there, of course. Ralivil had still hoped for some reason. All of a sudden, he wanted to know why Malik was out and about now. Perhaps he was stargazing like he was?

Ralivil made his way over to Malik. It wasn’t too long of a walk, about 250 meters total, but he couldn’t help be nervous. How would Malik react? What would he say? Ralivil hadn’t actually talked with him before. Not properly.

Malik, who had sat down on the rocky ground, glared up at Ralivil as he sat down beside him.

“What are you doing here?” Malik growled.

“I just wanted to know what you were doing out here,” Ralivil replied. “Stargazing?”

Malik glanced up at the sky. “…I guess. Nothing better to look at.”

The two Mooks sat together in silence for a while. It was impossible to tell how long.

Malik sighed. “I gotta come clean.”

Ralivil gave an inquisitive hum.

“I’m the one behind all of this mess. The RPG-maker, the leakage… I’m the one who let it all happen.”

“…You are…?”

Malik nodded. “Sitting and lookin’ at those damn frozen stars reminded me why I’m even here in the first place.”

“And… why _are _you here?” Ralivil asked.

Malik laughed as a smile was forced onto his face. “Sometimes I wonder that too!” He kept laughing. It soon died out, and he went back to looking at the stars.

He wrapped his arms around his lower tentacles, which were hunched up against his body. “It goes like this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **lw'v rqob udlqlqj vrphzkhuh hovh**


	17. Can't Keep My Extra Senses Charged For Very Long

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We take a look into Malik’s past.

The year was 197X.

From Mooks to Neptunians, Fobbies to Mr. Saturns, people of all shapes and sizes had flocked to Mars to attend the 127th Annual Milky Way Science Expo. It was the third day of the big event; the Cydonia city hall was packed with the latest inventions from the most brilliant of physicists. The visiting crowd gawked and fawned over them all.

A single white eyestalk peered out of the wings of the stage at the end of the hall. The owner of the eyestalk smirked.

“They probably don’t understand what any of those things do.”

“Dr. Malik!” A tie-wearing Martian looked up from the brochure he gripped. “You’re lucky you even made it here for the start of the expo, it wouldn’t kill you to be a bit more respectful to them, would it?”

Malik looked over his shoulder, then sheepishly giggled. “You’re not wrong, Dionaea.” He spun on his lower tentacles to face the Martian and added, “Besides, once I get my next project out there, people’ll be goin’ ga-ga over me! I won’t have a choice!”

“Dr. Malik!”

Malik laughed again. Dionaea sighed.

“You sure are one kooky old man, I’ll give you that.”

Malik slithered over to Dionaea and gave him a playful smack on the shell, prompting a yelp from the Martian.

“I thought the officials woulda told you about me before the expo started, kid,” Malik smirked.

“They did! And I’m not a kid, I’m going on 30!”

On the stage, an older Martian, around his mid-50’s, tapped the solitary microphone on the podium. The sound echoed through the hall, catching everyone’s attention. The Martian then began a long-winded speech that Malik couldn’t care less for. He never understood the point of them to begin with.

He counted 10 minutes before he heard his name announced. Dionaea gave him a light pat on the back and whispered, “That’s your cue!”

Malik slithered onto the podium, resting his arms on the top. He fiddled with the microphone momentarily before looking out at the gigantic crowd gathered in the hall.

“I’m not one for long, boring speeches, so I’ll make this quick. There’s been a lot of arguing in the field on the likelihood of alternate timelines and what not existing. I’ve decided that when I get back to my lab on Saturn, I’m going to make a machine that will prove that they exist!”

The crowd sprung to life with murmuring amongst each other. In the wings, Dionaea had dropped the brochure he held as his eyes went wide.

“How will it work?” a Fobby standing on a Mook’s head yelled.

“It’ll find a way to get to an alternate timeline however it can, then make a path to it. It’ll be liking making a bridge across a river,” Malik explained. “Expect it’ll be across space-time. And there won’t _actually _be a bridge.”

Malik began to step off the podium, but paused, then added, “Also, Martians, how are you liking those Instant Hyberpods?”

A chunk of the crowd cheered. With a grin, Malik slithered back to the wings.

As Malik re-entered, Dionaea hissed, “That’s all you’re going to say?!”

“The first thing I said was that I’m not one for long, boring speeches.”

“Alright, fair enough.” Dionaea paused before adding, “B-But a machine that creates paths to _alternate timelines?! _What makes you so sure that you’ll succeed? What if there aren’t any alternate timelines at all?”

Malik gave Dionaea a stern frown. “People used to think that there was no other life in the solar system, and nowadays we travel to other planets like we did it since the beginning of time. What makes _you _so sure that this is the only universe?”

Dionaea fell silent as he stared up at Malik with wide eyes. He warily glanced away, then muttered, “You have a point.”

A grin reappeared on Malik’s face again. “Like always!”

That night, Dionaea managed to convince Malik to stay for the final day of the expo. It was good manners, Dionaea said. After that was said and done, Malik returned home to Saturn as soon as dawn arrived. It was difficult to drag himself out of his hyberpod so early, but he didn’t want to get caught in traffic. Plus, he had an Instant Hyberpod at home. He could get the rest of his rest in just a couple of seconds, then make a start on his machine.

Malik had the calculations prepared before he went to the expo. Now all he had to do was to put them into action.

The motherboard was made. Wires were melded to circuits. The frame for the machine was set up. The monitor was set in place. The blinking lights and millions of gears came soon after. The steel was put in place, surrounding it all.

Ten years had gone by. He didn’t even know. He was too wrapped up in himself and his machine. After admiring it from afar for a minute, he slithered inside the machine and, lost in his own pride, pulled the lever that started it up. Lights flickered before stilling their glow, cogs began to turn, electric currents danced through the wires. The monitor in front of him came to life, greeting him with a select screen. There were only two options – “explore” and “shut down” – and he knew exactly which one he wanted.

The monitor then told Malik to put on the special goggles he designed just for it. He did as he was instructed, and was greeted to a view of the endless possibilities that awaited him. The space between the windows he could only assume were alternate timelines was whiter than any white he had seen before, and yet, he could still detect a star-like twinkle around the windows’ edges.

_‘I knew it! I knew it! I knew there were alternate timelines out there! Now all that’s left is to get there…’_

Even though he could not see them, Malik knew exactly where each component of the machine’s control system was. He pushed a button, then grabbed hold of the wheel. He aligned his line of vision with a nearby timeline, then pressed the button again. He then pulled another lever to the right of him. There was a second of waiting before he felt himself get lighter yet lighter. Before he knew it, he was sucked into the void, then thrown into the alternate timeline.

Reality crashed down on him as heavily as he fell onto a cold steel roof. He began to slide down it, and despite his attempts to climb back up, could not refamiliarize himself with his body in time and fell off. With a grunt, he propped himself up on his arms, then slowly got to his feet.

Nothing looked out of the ordinary at a first glance. Understandable, he thought; he travelled to the nearest timeline. After taking another quick look around, Malik warily slithered away from the house he fell off and began to make a round around the town he had landed in.

He knew this was Satralia – he had been there a couple of times, actually. But he couldn’t help but notice everything was a bit… off. The buildings weren’t quite in the right places. He started to regret not taking a closer look at the timeline before jumping in in the back of his mind, but he ignored it. He was more interested in the slightly odd placements of the buildings.

He slithered up the hill with the Mr. Saturn house nobody knew anything about. Once he was a few meters away from the house, he squinted at it. He knew the placement of it was off, but what was it? After staring for a few more moments, it finally clicked – it was slightly to the left from where he knew it.

The front door of the house creaked open. Malik flinched and froze in place. He saw a bulbous nose peep past the door, and heard the owner of the nose converse with another Mr. Saturn inside. Every limb of Malik’s body began to feel light again, and he quietly let out a breath he didn’t realise he was holding. As the Mr. Saturn at the door finally peered outside to see who was there, Malik was whisked away, back to his lab.

The smooth, cold steel underneath his feet took some readjusting to. The shock and slight discomfort of returning was quickly swept away by ecstasy. It worked! It really worked!

Malik threw off the machine’s goggles and ran to his computer. He loaded up his barebones website, default font and plain black background and all, and hurriedly typed up an announcement: he had done it. He made the machine, and its maiden voyage was a brilliant success.

The news spread like wildfire. Everyone everywhere was talking about it. Everyone everywhere praised him for it. Scientists from all fields congratulated him.

“This is going down in history!” everyone everywhere cheered. Malik had never felt prouder.

Soon, the people asked what it was called. They couldn’t write the history books without the machine’s name, now, could they? Malik hadn’t thought about that at all. So, he did what he did best when it came to such matters – ignore the public and ask a Martian about it. Or, in this case, the Martian came to him.

While Malik sat at his table, a worn pen resting in between his teeth, frowning at the blank scrap piece of paper in front of him, his computer let out a chime. He jumped upon hearing it, falling out of his chair in the process. He scrambled to the computer. On it, a popup reading “incoming call” with Dionaea’s name underneath sat on screen as the chime continued. Malik sighed, then accepted the call. Dionaea then appeared on the computer screen.

“Hello, Dr. Malik! Congratulations on the machine!” Dionaea greeted. He paused before asking, “What are you doing on the floor?”

“I _was _tryin’ to think of a name for the machine, but no dice,” Malik replied, his eyestalks turning to the table behind him.

“Oh, I see. I was calling about that, too.”

Malik growled. “Of course you were.”

“The press has been hounding me for the name of that machine, which… doesn’t exactly make sense, seeing as I’m _also _part of the press…?” Dionaea explained. “But anyway, I guess they asked me because I’m the Deputy Prime Minister’s son, and I _have_ accompanied you in the past.”

There was an awkward silence between them before Dionaea asked, “Do you want help with the name?”

Malik rolled his eyes and looked back at the blank piece of paper. “I’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“…How long were you trying to think of a name?”

Malik thought for a moment before he shrugged.

Dionaea frowned. “…When was the last time you ate?”

Malik thought again, for longer this time. “Sometime yesterday, I think.”

“Well go get some food!”

“Fine, fine!”

Malik wandered into his kitchen – an awfully small space – and grabbed a tub of yoghurt out of the fridge. He wandered back into his workspace and held up the tub.

“Got something.”

Dionaea frowned at the tub of yoghurt before sighing and saying, “Better than nothing.”

Malik peeled open the lid of the tub and squeezed the yoghurt into his mouth. Dionaea watched with a somewhat discernible look of disgust on his face. They stared at each other in complete silence for at least 30 seconds.

“…So…! The name! For the machine!” Dionaea finally said. “I was thinking something with ‘alternate’ or ‘reality’… or ‘alternate reality’… in it. What about you?”

“I wanted to put ‘maker’ in there somewhere, just not sure how.”

Dionaea perked up. “Alright, so we’ve got something! Let me just…” He leaned over and grabbed a pad of paper and a pen off to his left. He slid it in front of him, then scribbled down some words.

For the next couple of hours, Malik and Dionaea went back and forth on ideas, before they settled on Reality Pathfinder Generator-maker. Malik proudly declared it himself.

“Hmm. That’s a bit long, though,” Dionaea mused.

“What? It’s nothing. Could be longer,” Malik replied, an eyebrow raised with a smirk.

Dionaea quietly sighed and leaned back in his chair. “I guess you’re right, but it doesn’t really roll off the tongue. Saying it all the time would get annoying quick. We could abbreviate it.”

Malik simply squinted in disapproval.

“RPGm?” Dionaea suggested.

“No.”

Dionaea thought for a moment. “RPG-maker?”

Malik opened his mouth to object, but stopped. He thought about it for a few moments…

“It works,” Malik replied, crossing his arms.

Dionaea sat up, his eyes sparkling with joy. “Then it’s settled! I’ll go tell the press!”

With that, Dionaea hung up. Malik relaxed his limbs and sighed. “Finally.”

He looked over to the newly named RPG-maker that sat nearby. He slithered up to it and put a hand to it.

“Well, it’s just you and me now. We’re going to be game changers.”

The next couple of years were dedicated to upgrading the RPG-maker. If Malik wanted to use its full potential, then it was needed. First, the range of the RPG-maker’s reach was extended. It eventually extended beyond Malik’s comprehension. Next, he added in a function that allowed him to choose which location in any given timeline he could visit. It made things much more efficient. Lastly, the element of time was added. Not only could Malik go to any timeline he wanted, but he could choose what time, down to the precise second, he wanted to go to. The timelines were at his tentacle tips. He could do whatever he felt like.

Malik used the RPG-maker as often as he could. It was his pride and joy, of course! Why wouldn’t he? He visited many timelines, so many of them far different from the one he came from. But blinded by the pride he felt for his creation, he didn’t see just how strange that was.

Not until a fateful visit to another timeline.

To spice things up a little, Malik decided to visit a timeline closer to his own. By now, he was used to the sensation of becoming lighter than any physical object and getting thrown into an alternate reality. He landed inside a small ship, not very far in the future. There was only one window and one hyberpod inside. He scoffed at the sight. He slithered up to the window to find Saturn sitting far away, getting absorbed by some sort of strange static. A trail of sorts flowed from it.

_‘What… IS that?’ _he thought to himself, squinting at it.

The hyberpod’s lid creaked open, revealing a purple eyestalk. Malik whipped his eyestalks around to look at the hyberpod, and the strangely golden eyed Mook inside.

“…Whaddya doin’…?” the Mook inside the hyberpod wearily mumbled.

“Why should you care?” Malik snarled in response.

“This isn’t…” The Mook yawned. “This isn’t your ship.”

“I know THAT! Now tell me what’s going on! What’s happening to Saturn?!”

The Mook hummed in thought for a moment, before replying, “I dunno.”

Malik growled. His tentacles hovered down to the ship’s control panel. “Fine. I’ll just find out myself!”

He turned the ship around, following the sporadic trail of static amongst the stars. The trail led Malik to a large alien ship. The ship, much like Saturn, was covered in the strange static. Any normal person would have gotten out of the situation. Malik decided to park the ship in the airlock. After the ship was parked, he opened the hatch and deployed the drop ladder.

The purple Mook lifted the hyberpod’s lid a bit more with his head, revealing his other eyes, both of which golden with a somewhat darker iris and pupil.

“Wait, you’re going onto the ship?” the Mook questioned.

“What’s it to you?” Malik snapped in reply. He then climbed down the ladder and into the ship.

He couldn’t remember what the journey inside was like. He didn’t particularly want to, either. He only remembered the suffocating feeling of the static as it edged closer to him, nipping at his lower tentacles, hissing. And then, when he finally made it to the top floor of the ship, he saw it.

He saw the RPG-maker.

It sat at the opposite end of the room, like a king sitting upon his throne. It sat with its entrance open, and its sides loose and ready to fall off, with static pouring out.

He had seen enough. And his timeline’s RPG-maker seemed to agree. Just as the static began to climb up his frozen body, he felt himself get lighter and lighter. Before he knew it, he was back inside his RPG-maker. For a few minutes, he couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. All that ran through his mind was the one image of the other RPG-maker in the ship.

His one wouldn’t do the same, would it?

Malik opted out of even using his Instant Hyberpod that night. Instead, he devoted his time to searching the future for proof his RPG-maker wouldn’t turn against him. He didn’t like what he saw.

In just under a month, the RPG-maker – _his _RPG-maker – would leak out into the world. Its leakage would slowly destroy anything it came into contact with. And it would waste no time in destroying the entire timeline. Every last atom of being, every last second of time, destroyed. How or why it would get to that alien ship was something he couldn’t figure out.

Throughout this end of time, Malik noticed a group – one Mook, two UFOs, and a hooded alien - travelling across the solar system. Whatever they were trying to achieve, it wasn’t happening. The only thing they were doing was irritating the leakage and causing the end to arrive faster. There had been a Starman with them, yes, but he disappeared at a point. Malik concluded he was not a part of the group, and was simply being used by the hooded alien.

He did not know the names of anyone in the group. He gave them his own names instead. The hooded alien, Death. They appeared to be the one leading the others into peril. The others that followed them, the horsemen: the Mook was Pestilence, the light pink UFO was Famine and the magenta UFO was War. With a bit of searching around the timeline, Malik found the Starman was going to be used by the hooded alien for… something. It was unclear. He labelled the Starman the stabilizer, due to his calmer nature compared to the horsemen.

But did this happen in other timelines? There was only one way to find out. Malik back out of peering across his timeline, and back to the void between worlds. He jumped into one nearby – that timeline’s RPG-maker worked to destroy that one as well. Another timeline ended the same. Even if the group had tried different things in those ones, the outcome was static.

A plan popped into his head after visiting that nearby timeline. He didn’t know how well it would work, if at all, but he had to try it.

Malik hurriedly aimed for the outskirts of Satralia and jumped forward into his timeline – only a week ahead, now that the RPG-maker’s destruction of the timeline was inching closer. But instead of setting foot there, he sent himself to the very fabric of the timeline. He found himself floating amongst a sea of digits, strings of code and files. He knew Pestilence’s file had to be around somewhere.

He pulled the strings of code towards him to check what files they had inside. He dug through hundreds of strings that held nothing more than lives that only had him in the back of their minds. It took longer than he would have liked, but eventually, he found Pestilence’s file. He dipped his right tentacle in, the file rippling like water. It then opened up before Malik. He swam up to the image of Pestilence’s back, and began to draw on it.

The blue and yellow lines were as precise as the image was in his mind. Before long, he had finished the marking. The likeness of Pestilence’s blue counterpart – a large presense in a small adventure within many more timelines than the RPG-maker – had been drawn upon his back, just below his right tentacle. In the blue Mook’s left hand was the Apple of Enlightenment, the very thing that guided him.

With his task done, he returned to the void between worlds. As his vision cleared, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a white crackle of energy surround a nearby timeline. The timeline went dull then… crumbled apart. He turned his attention to it and stared wide eyed at the remains of the timeline. Somehow, something else – or some_one, _perhaps – had done this. Whatever the case was, it wasn’t easing his fears for the future.

In his panic, Malik ripped the RPG-maker’s goggles off his head and scrambled out of the machine. He turned over every piece of paper, blueprint and piece of furniture looking to find something that could destroy a creation with ease. He soon found his answer – a crowbar lying on the floor of his neglected bedroom. He grabbed it, then ran back to the RPG-maker. From its finale to its genesis, he hurriedly tore it all apart. Every sheet of steel, all the things that glowed and spun – every single little bit.

He then searched for something he could contain it all in – the RPG-maker was rather large. He eventually found a large steel box with a pair of tacked-on wings and an engine that he forgot the original purpose of. It was fine. He crammed the RPG-maker’s remains inside, then for the first time in years, went outside.

He dashed to the spring flower that sat at the base of the ridge a few meters behind his house. The spring flower launched him into the air as soon as more than one tentacle stood on it. After landing on the ridge, he ran to its nearest edge. He revved up the box’s engine until a flame fired from the end facing him. Then, with all the force he could muster, threw the box into the air. It flew far, far away from him, into the starry sky.

Malik watched the box fly farther and farther away from him, until it was indistinguishable from the stars. He was free of the machine, at least. But he couldn’t help but feel like somehow, a part of him was…

…missing.

Severed from him, perhaps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **sv'h gsv svvo gsvb xzoo zxsroovh'**


	18. Can't Bear to Tell You That You're Wrong, So very Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Timechasers board the View-Monster. Anue is guilty.

Malik’s eyes twitched as he muttered his conclusion: “…That’s it, basically.”

Ralivil didn’t know what to say. To think Malik had gone through so much, to think he had tried so hard – to think that the Timechasers had brushed him off as an obstacle.

There were many questions Ralivil had swirling in his mind, but the one that slipped out was, “So, uh, why did you put the Prophet’s Mark on my back?”

Malik grunted as he glanced at him. “The blue Mook with the apple, you mean?” He looked back at the ground as he answered, “To track you. You’d blend in otherwise.”

“And why of him? Why not someone else? Or e—”

“You won’t be as lucky as him. You’re an inferior version of him. Just like…” He didn’t finish his sentence. Ralivil suspected he couldn’t.

Malik studied the rocky ground in front of him and Ralivil for an amount of time that could not be measured. Ralivil stared up at the stars. The frozen glimmers made him shiver. The darkness of the sky cast a shadow over his thoughts. If the RPG-maker succeeded in destroying the timeline, or even just the solar system, what would happen? Would there be an afterlife to go to, or would the flames of life be snuffed out entirely?

Ralivil was pulled out of his thoughts when Malik spoke again, saying, “Now that time’s dead and gone, I’ve given up trying. The only real option now is to wait for however it is that we all die. It’d be best to put me… me and dying world out of its misery, anyway. There’s more Maliks out there. Despite their… stupid,_ stupid MISTAKES, _they… they haven’t made the same mistakes I have. They still have better lives than I do. While being inferior to them is… is… hard sometimes, I take comfort in knowing they exist, and knowing that is all I can ask for anymore.”

Malik stood up. “I would tell you to stay, but I know you won’t. Foolish. FOOLISH! _FOOLISH!”_

He fired a burst of PK Fire in front of him, the flame dancing in the air around itself before freezing in place for a few long moments, then disappearing. Malik heaved out a sighed. “I’m going back to the Sigismundo now. Waiting for the end of the world surrounded by frozen **idiots** beats waiting alone.”

With that, he turned his back to Ralivil and slithered away. Ralivil watched until his was no more but a speck on the horizon. He looked back up to the stars, knowing they wouldn’t have changed but hoping anyway, then stood up and returned to his own ship.

Buzzy Bol and Boson were chatting with Elmadan and Anue was looking out the window when Ralivil climbed up the drop ladder and into the ship. As he set foot on the ship’s cool floor, Anue looked over at him and said, “There you are.”

Ralivil waved.

“What were you doing?” Anue asked, an edge on their voice.

“I was just…” Ralivil paused. “…stargazing.”

“But the stars are frozen.”

A smile flickered on Ralivil’s face. “But they’re still there! Gotta appreciate them while I can.”

Anue hummed to themselves, then turned back to the window.

Buzzy Bol hovered over to Ralivil and told him, “While you were outside, that glowing apple orb… thing… that came out of Elmadan made some weird noises and faded away.”

From his spot against the hyberpod, Elmadan added, “And Anue understood every part of it. Still don’t know why that surprised me.”

Buzzy Bol briefly turned to Elmadan and quietly added, “Me too.” He then turned back to Ralivil and added, “Apparently the orb mentioned some guy being the heel they call Achilles’, whatever that means. Anue said not to dwell on it.”

Ralivil cast a glance to Anue as he replied, “That probably means they’ll be the one trying to figure it out.”

Anue told him, “What the Apple said before it died is only my concern. Now that you are back on board, Ralivil, we will head to the View-Monster immediately.”

Anue pressed some buttons on the control pad, and the ship roared to life. It hovered into the air, then turned around and headed back the way everyone had come.

“What’s… the View-Monster? Should I know?” Ralivil asked.

Eyes fixed on the window, Anue replied, “The View-Monster is a ship of my kind’s that is parked not too far away from Saturn. The RPG-maker is aboard it, on the highest floor; the commander’s quarters. Once we are aboard the View-Monster, we will head to that room and destroy the RPG-maker.”

Though he remained silent, Boson narrowed his eyes at Anue.

The journey to the View-Monster was long. Ralivil would have slept through it if he could find it in him to close his eyes. Instead, he sat down for a bit, then get up and pace up and down the ship, look out the window, then go back to the other end of the ship and sit down again. The times he looked out the window did nothing to elevate his fears, not even for a moment. Usually he would see nothing but frozen stars, but sometimes he would see planets.

Venus was almost entirely gone – there was only a crescent of the RPG-maker’s leakage left gorging on what remained of the planet. Earth and Mars were in similar states to each other – leakage had begun gnawing on the planet itself. Ralivil thought of the Martians. Jupiter’s leakage on the planet was patchy, but looked like it would expand into one big cluster sooner rather than later. Saturn… was almost gone as well. The leakage had trickled down from somewhere, leaving a trail, and had most of the planet engulfed. The rings were nowhere to be found.

Anue turned the ship away from Saturn and followed the trail of leakage. Slowly, a tall, rectangular ship came into view. The ship had patches of leakage on it. Ralivil shivered. If that was what it was like on the _outside… _and he had to go _in…_

Finally, the ship came to a halt. It was parked inside a small, open-ended room with white tiles covering every inch.

“We’ve arrived in the View-Monster’s airlock,” Anue announced.

Elmadan, who had since laid on top of the hyberpod, lifted his head and asked, “I don’t have to go, do I? ‘Cause judging from that trail of glitchy stuff, this isn’t a great place to be…”

“No,” Anue simply replied.

Elmadan sighed, “Oh thank the stars.”

Ralivil stood up, and Buzzy Bol and Boson hovered into the air. Anue opened up the ship’s hatch, and began to move to it themselves. Then they came to a halt. The only sign they hadn’t been frozen in time was the slow but steady rise and fall of their shoulders.

“Yo. Anue. You gonna move, or…?” Boson questioned.

Anue’s ears twitched. “I… No, it is nothing. Let us be on our way.”

With that, Anue teleported out of the ship in a flash of light yellow light. The Timechasers followed them out into the airlock.

The drop ladder slid back into the ship and the hatch closed behind them as soon as Boson hovered out of the ship.

“I will lead the way to the commander’s quarters. Come along.” Anue began to trot on the balls of their feet, leaving the Timechasers to follow.

Following Anue out of the airlock and into the halls of the View-Monster, the first thing Ralivil noticed was the disrepair of the halls. Parts had broken off, and many patches of the ground had leakage gnawing on them.

Anue led the Timechasers down a chipped wall. They looked over their shoulder at Ralivil and said, “Your hand.”

Ralivil cocked his head and raised an eyebrow. Anue made a motion for him to hold out his hand, exposing their own in the process. Ralivil did so, and Anue grabbed his hand immediately. They then teleported onto a chunk of broken floor drifting away. Ralivil stood dazed for a moment, before rubbing his lower eye with his free tentacle.

Anue looked over their shoulder at Buzzy Bol and Boson, raising their voice to tell them, “Follow my lead, you two!”

Anue continued to teleport across the chunks of broken floor, with Buzzy Bol and Boson following. They soon teleported onto an end of a hall, and let go of Ralivil’s hand. Ralivil immediately slithered up to the nearest wall and leaned against it. Buzzy Bol and Boson gave him concerned stares, but said nothing. Anue also joined in.

“I did not realise teleportation would disorient you so much. My apologies,” Anue told Ralivil.

Boson sputtered as he glared at Anue. “How did you NOT think of that?!”

Anue turned their head to Boson. “I simply did not. That is all.”

Ralivil got up and slithered away from the wall, mumbling, “Okay, I think I’m good to go now.”

Anue turned to the path ahead of them. “Wonderful. Let us be on our way.”

Anue led the Timechasers down the empty hall and into a wide room with interconnected floating paths. The leakage was thicker here. Its scent stung. It hissed at him. It nipped at the ends of his lower tentacles. It chilled the already cool air. Now he could understand why Malik didn’t want to remember his own trek up the View-Monster. He wanted nothing more than to leave the ship and go home.

Anue had stopped walking. They stood still, staring at the leakage-riddled floor.

Buzzy Bol glanced at Ralivil for a moment, then looked back at Anue. “Anue? What’s up?” he asked.

Anue took a deep breath in, then warily exhaled. “There are… many things I should have told you by now. You have all done your best up to this point. It would be… wrong of me to not tell you.” They took a couple of steps forward before saying, “I am… not who you think I am.”

They took another few steps forward before stopping again. The Timechasers inched behind them. “I still do not know how many in this solar system know of me, or my kind. Even if it were none, I still donned this hood as a precaution.”

Another few steps. “…One day, while observing Saturn, I spotted a box floating amongst the stars. Intrigued, I brought it into my ship and took out the contents. I assembled them… into the very machine that threatens us, everyone, everything… I used that dreaded machine to look into other timelines, and our own future, and found out about our fate.”

Another few steps. “Arix… surely must have mentioned his commander, Inpue. That Geeg… is who I am. I only took on the name ‘Anue’ to protect myself. ‘Anue’… ‘Anue’ is not real. ‘Anue’ is only the lies I have been telling you.”

A few more steps. They and the Timechasers were at the highest point of the room. “…’Don’t enjoy this private screening: this one doesn’t have a meaning.’ That is what another version of myself told me, just before they disappeared. I do not understand what those words mean for us, but I wanted to impart them to you three.”

The four of them stood in silence.

“We mustn’t stall any longer on our final mission,” Anue finally said, their eyes peeling away from the floor. “Come along. The top of the View-Monster is close, and the RPG-maker is no doubt waiting for us.”

Anue passed through the doorway that led to the top of the View-Monster. Ralivil wasted no time in following them, and Buzzy Bol drifted close. Boson, meanwhile, glared at the back of Anue’s hood. From the hissing behind him, he felt something graze against the back of his UFO. He spun around, frowning, but saw nothing. He squinted, then turned back to the doorway and followed the other Timechasers and Anue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **01001000 01000111 01010110 01001011 00100000 01010010 01001101 01000111 01001100 00100000 01001110 01000010 00100000 01001011 01011010 01001001 01001111 01001100 01000110 01001001 00101100 00100000 01011001 01010110 01011000 01010000 01001100 01001101 01010110 01010111 00100000 01000111 01010011 01010110 00100000 01001110 01011010 01010000 01010110 01001001 00100000 01000111 01001100 00100000 01000111 01010011 01010110 00100000 01010011 01001100 01001001 01001000 01010110 01001110 01010110 01001101**
> 
> **01000111 01010010 01001000 00100000 01000111 01010011 01010110 00100000 01001110 01001100 01001000 01000111 00100000 01010011 01010110 01001111 01001111 01010010 01001000 01010011 00100000 01001111 01010010 01000111 01000111 01001111 01010110 00100000 01001011 01011010 01001001 01001111 01001100 01000110 01001001 00100000 01000010 01001100 01000110 00100000 01000100 01010010 01001111 01001111 00100000 01001101 01010110 01000101 01010110 01001001 00100000 01000101 01010010 01001000 01010010 01000111 00100000 01011010 01010100 01011010 01010010 01001101**


	19. Can't Believe This Brief Reprieve is Stretching Outward and Up My Sleeve

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The final battle.

The leakage was unbearably thick. It swamped every little inch of the View-Monster’s interior. The air had small particles of ice floating far above the Timechasers’ heads. Its thinness and stench were suffocating. Only a couple of feet ahead, Anue made each step very carefully. Ralivil attempted to replicate them, but the leakage’s grasp on his lower tentacles made it hard.

Anue paused in front of what may have been a wall. “Ladder,” they simply told the Timechasers. They then began climbing up the ladder, which was barely visible with all the leakage covering it.

Ralivil followed, wobbling as he ascended. Buzzy Bol and Boson, however, had minimal problems following. They only needed to swat away stray pieces of leakage that floated away from the mass to try and grab hold of them.

Anue hopped off the ladder gracefully, and Ralivil less so. At the other end of the floor, a robot spun about in a horizontal line. It paused as it faced Anue and the Timechasers, then flung itself towards them. Anue blasted the robot with a single purple beam of energy from their hand. The static that had built up in its visor faded away before it fell apart.

As they lowered their hand, Anue murmured to themselves, “A shame. I was fond of that little robot.”

They led the Timechasers onwards, through a door on the left side of the floor and into a three-way hall. From the leakage’s hissing, Ralivil could have sworn he heard a whisper that almost seemed like words. His face scrunched up at the sound.

Anue paused, looked over their shoulder at Ralivil, and asked, “You hear the leakage’s whispering too?”

“Whispering? What are talking about? I don’t hear it,” Buzzy Bol said.

“Seriously, bro, you don’t? You kidding?” Boson asked.

“Wait, you can hear it too, Boson?!” Ralivil asked, wide-eyed.

“Of course I can?! It’s really wack; it sounds almost like words!”

Anue sighed. “This is not the time to be discussing what the leakage’s whispering sounds like. If you listen too hard and try to make sense of it, it will be easier for it to infect you.”

Boson squinted at them. “What makes you so sure…?”

“I have observed it happen in other timelines,” Anue simply replied. They then began to walk again, heading up the northern hall.

The hall seemed like it would never end. The leakage was only getting thicker. The knowledge that they were getting closer to the RPG-maker comforted Ralivil, because that meant Anue hadn’t led the Timechasers astray in the View-Monster, but scared him far more.

After what seemed like an infinite slog through the hall, Anue and the Timechasers finally emerged in a small, round room. Whatever had decorated it had been smothered by the leakage.

“We have arrived in Inp– …my former quarters,” Anue announced.

Sitting at the opposite end of the room was the RPG-maker. Leakage poured out of the entrance and every crevice that had been forced open.

The RPG-maker let out a creak, then a moan. It hissed, creating a cacophony of white noise with its leakage. Ralivil shivered. He glanced wide-eyed at Anue.

Anue made one simple instruction: “Just fight the RPG-maker with everything you have.”

The RPG-maker screeched. The leakage around the room rose into the air, then slammed back down onto the floor. It slid off Anue, Ralivil and Buzzy Bol just fine, though the latter two still panicked and flung attacks around at the leakage. After the initial panic subsided, Buzzy Bol cast PSI Shield Sigma. The leakage then shifted to gather at the doorway. The Timechasers and Anue spun around to face it as it rose into the air and formed a wall in front of the exit. More leakage spilled out of the RPG-maker, and filled the room up again. The leakage hissed. Underneath, it whispered to the adamant souls who had dared to step foot in its domain.

Anue held out a hand toward the RPG-maker, which glowed light yellow for a moment before changing to purple and shooting out a beam. The RPG-maker stood firm. Buzzy Bol shot a barrage of lasers at the RPG-maker, but they didn’t make a scratch. Ralivil fired a PK Freeze Gamma at it, but nothing happened.

Buzzy Bol spun around to look at Boson, who was hovering not too far away from and facing the wall of leakage blocking the exit. “Boson, what are you DOING?! Aren’t you going to help us?”

Boson said nothing. He didn’t even move.

“Boson!” Buzzy Bol shouted. He flew over to the other UFO’s side and snapped, “Boson, this is no time to be mad at Anue! Ever since that argument on Mars you’ve… you’ve been a real pain, you know that? I didn’t want to say anything because I _know _it’s easier for you to think about the consequences yourself rather than have them pointed out! But this is the end of the line, Boson! I know you think you’re in the right here, but you’re going to _die _if you don’t help us out!”

Boson said nothing. He didn’t even move.

“Boson! It’s not FUNNY! EVERYTHING IS ON THE LINE RIGHT NOW!”

A thin tentacle of leakage crept up from the mass and latched onto Boson’s UFO. Buzzy Bol shot at it, and the tentacle was broken. However, the part on Boson’s UFO stretched out towards the mass and reconnected with it. Buzzy Bol inched away as a second tentacle of leakage grabbed a hold of the other side of Boson’s UFO.

“…B… Boson…?”

Ralivil had turned his eyestalks to the scene as more leakage piled onto Boson’s UFO. Soon enough, it was hard to tell he was even there at all. The leakage sunk into the UFO, and only then did Boson turn around…

…to reveal his eyes filled with static.

The bottom of Boson’s eyes lifted in a projected grin. “Inpue Osiris, long time no see!”

Anue flinched, then spun around.

“Boson… you…” they murmured.

Boson giggled, then hovered right up to Anue’s face. “I knew you would come back to try destroy me. Your other selves did.”

“Let Boson go!” Buzzy Bol snapped.

Boson glanced at Buzzy Bol and replied, “For what reason? He doesn’t want to help you. You trust Inpue. Boson trusts me.”

“N-No he doesn’t!” Ralivil objected. “He’s been trying to stop you with us all along!”

“If he was, he was doing a poor job.”

“What do you know, you… dumb machine?!”

“Ralivil, this is not the time to be arguing,” Anue told him. He looked back at Boson and told him, “Do not think you will have free dominion over this timeline. We _will _destroy you.”

Boson sniggered, then howled with laughter. Its emptiness rang across the room and bounced off the walls.

“Don’t get cocky!” Ralivil snarled.

Boson laughed again, before telling him through giggles, “That’s not the reason why I’m laughing, you idiot!”

Boson’s metallic arm lowered from his UFO and shot a barrage of lasers at Ralivil. Ralivil screamed as he narrowly stepped out of the way of the first few, only to get hit by the rest.

Anue softly growled. They turned their head to Ralivil and Buzzy Bol and ordered, “Attack the RPG-maker. I will make sure Boson does not disrupt you.”

“But Anue, you’re the strongest!” Ralivil argued. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for you to attack the RPG-maker while me and Buzzy Bol stop Boson?”

“Now that he is being used by the RPG-maker, there is no way to predict what he may do next. It would be safer if I held him back.”

Ralivil stared at Anue hesitantly, before forcing a determined frown onto his face and nodding. He turned to the RPG-maker, then glanced at Buzzy Bol, who had done the same.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“As I’ll ever be,” Buzzy Bol replied.

Buzzy Bol fired as many lasers as he could at the RPG-maker. Boson scoffed behind them as the lasers hit the machine. Ralivil took a deep breath in, then held out his right tentacle. A soft pain came from the Prophet’s Mark, and the air temperature dove down even further. He shut his eyes tight as a burst of psychic energy blasted out of his tentacle. Blue lines and geometric shapes danced around the RPG-maker for a couple of moments. Ralivil opened his eyes to see that the RPG-maker was still without a scratch.

Anue had Boson held tight with a purple aura that surrounded both his UFO and their hand. Boson wriggled and shook within Anue’s PSI grasp, but found little success in breaking free. Boson growled, then withdrew the UFO’s metallic arm. Anue raised an eyebrow underneath their hood.

“You are already giving in so soon?” they asked. “That… does not seem like you.”

Boson gave Anue as close to a smirk as his UFO would allow. Leakage directly below him crept up from the floor, latching onto the PSI holding him in place. It hissed and crackled as it met its opponent, but after a few moments, it slunk back into the mass. The aura surrounding both Boson’s UFO and Anue’s hand was gone.

The metallic arm inside Boson’s UFO emerged again. He dove straight for Anue, frantically waving the arm around. Anue jumped out of the way, then outstretched a hand and fired a purple beam of energy. Boson simply flew above it, then dove down at Anue, arm outstretched. Anue grabbed the arm with both hands, then slammed Boson down onto the floor.

Meanwhile, Ralivil and Buzzy Bol had moved onto a different tactic. Buzzy Bol had his metallic arm out as well, pounding against one side of the RPG-maker. Ralivil slapped and jabbed the opposite side frantically. Despite the efforts, they hadn’t made a single dent. He paused for a moment to catch his breath.

“Hey Buzzy Bol,” Ralivil called out, “what if I attacked from the inside?”

Buzzy Bol frowned. “It may have worked on that monster back on Mars, but with all the leakage coming out of it, I’d be surprised if you could get in at all.”

“Isn’t it worth a shot, though?”

Buzzy Bol tilted his metallic arm’s hand left and right in a ‘maybe’ gesture. “I wouldn’t try it, but if you want to…”

Ralivil stepped into the thick river of leakage pouring out of the RPG-maker’s entrance. He could barely take two steps without the leakage working against him. He counted five steps before he was pushed out and fell onto his back.

Despite Anue’s best attempts, Boson kept getting back up. He kept dodging their PSI attacks, and the physical attacks that landed only made him laugh at most. They looked over at the RPG-maker at the same time Ralivil glanced over to them.

“Anue!” Ralivil called out, “I have an idea! Could you try attacking the inside of the RPG-maker? One of those weird beams could get through the leakage, right?”

Anue nodded, then jumped over to the RPG-maker’s entrance. They held out a hand, which was soon lit up by a light yellow light surrounding it. The light changed in hue to purple before a beam burst from their hand. The beam cut right through the leakage, but whether or not it hit anything was anyone’s guess.

From behind them, Boson cackled. “You idiots! Did you really expect that to WORK?!”

“…We cannot beat you through brute force?” Anue asked.

“Why would you be able to?”

A thunderous **CRACK **echoed throughout the room. It was followed by an ear piercing cacophony of hissing and the floor below them shaking. Of everyone’s in the room, Boson’s eyes shrunk the most.

“No! NO! This wasn’t supposed to happen! _I _was supposed to destroy this timeline!” he wailed.

Ralivil’s eyes went wide. “Wait, it wasn’t the RPG-maker that…?”

Anue turned to Ralivil and Buzzy Bol. Over the hissing, they ordered, “Move away from the RPG-maker.”

Ralivil and Buzzy Bol wasted no time in doing what they were told. They scrambled in front of Anue.

“I do not have much time before this timeline is destroyed, but I wanted to apologise. I only wanted to save this timeline, but I fear I may have unintentionally played a hand in helping its destruction. Now please, stand still.”

Anue held their hands together, and underneath their hood, they closed their eyes. They began muttering alien words, and a silvery blue glow began to surround their body. They held out their hands, thumbs side by side, and the outline of a square formed in front of them. The square travelled towards Ralivil and Buzzy Bol, and once it was only a couple of centimeters away, it extended into a cube around them. There was a flash, and once the light faded, they had disappeared. In their places were two floating orbs of light: “ralivil” and “bbol”. Anue picked up the two orbs and let them hover above their left hand and they held out their right. They began muttering more alien words, and a white light began to glow above their hand. There was a flash before the light faded. A picture of the Timechasers – all four – now floated above their right hand.

Anue muttered more alien words – these ones of a different tongue – and a portal to a silvery cliff appeared before them. They put their hands into the portal and let the two orbs and the photo drift away. As soon as Anue pulled their hands out, the portal blinked shut.

“Goodbye… and… thank you for staying with me…”

There was a splitting **CRACK **from somewhere outside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **2-21-20 20-8-5 6-21-20-21-18-5 18-5-6-21-19-5-4 20-15 3-8-1-14-7-5**


	20. Epilogue: Simply Begs the Question, How Could I Be So Naive?

Niiue wandered down the cold, grey path that was the beginning of he and Giegue’s shared Magicant. He had the feeling Giegue would lash out again soon, and seeing as his emotional state affected the physical state of the shared Magicant, it only felt right to make sure the residents knew beforehand.

Already, the muddy green horned thing was quivering. He crept up to Niiue and tapped him on the shoulder.

Niiue let out an inquisitive hum and asked, “What’s up?”

“Oh, it was terrible, Niiue! A strange portal opened up in the sky, and there was such a horrible noise coming from it! These two orbs and a piece of paper, I think, floated out of it, and now there’s…!” the horned thing raised a shaky hand and pointed a green Mook and a light pink UFO idling near the right dead end.

“…Huh. They weren’t there before,” Niiue commented. He looked at the horned thing and assured him, “Don’t worry, I’m sure they’re friendly.”

The green horned thing smiled slightly.

Niiue walked over to the dead end where the Mook and the UFO were standing. He heard a crinkle underfoot, and took a step back. On the ground was a square photo of sorts. Curious, he picked it up and examined it.

The photo had small images of four aliens standing next to one another in a line – a green Mook, a magenta UFO, a Blue Starman and a light pink UFO. They were in front of a black background, and underneath was a purple and orange checkered pattern. Underneath the photo was neat handwriting in the native language of the Geegs that read “faces2”.

Niiue frowned and bit his lip in thought. _‘”faces2”? What the heck is that supposed to mean?’_

He turned the photo over to find more handwriting on the back. In a quiet mutter, he read the handwriting aloud to himself. “To whom it may concern, I apologise for any scares I may have caused, and the sudden appearance of the green Mook and the light pink UFO. They have come from another timeline to take refuge in this one due to an event that caused their home timeline’s destruction. Please, take care of them, and make them feel welcome in their new home.”

Niiue raised his eyebrows. “Huh. Polite Geeg, but really sad story…”

He went to simply shove the photo in his jeans’ pocket, but stopped himself. After some consideration, he decided to neatly fold it before pocketing it. The Geeg who wrote the note seemed so polite; it would be disrespectful to let the photo get crumpled.

Niiue walked up to the Mook and the UFO, waved and smiled as he greeted, “Hi there! Welcome to Magicant!”

The Mook flinched, then turned to face Niiue. “That’s what this place is called? Magicant?”

“Yup! My name’s Niiue, by the way. I’m one of the owners of this Magicant.”

“One of?” the UFO echoed.

Rubbing the back of his head and glancing away, Niiue replied, “Yeah, it’s a long story. The other owner is called Giegue. He looks like me, but taller, and with red eyes, and…” He only realised how awkward it would be to say a split second before he said, “…naked.”

The Mook pointed at Niiue’s hair and asked, “Does he have that yellow stuff on your head?”

“Hair? No, he doesn’t have hair. He’s also… bald.” Wow, this was a really awkward description of Giegue. “In terms of personality, he’s been really upset lately. Don’t be surprised if he comes in here and starts yelling.”

Niiue clicked his fingers just a second after he finished his sentence, then said aloud, “Oh yeah, that’s right! I have the feeling he’ll lash out really soon, so watch out, and stay safe, alright?”

“Um… okay,” the Mook replied, his voice now quiet.

The green horned thing ran up to Niiue and exclaimed, “He’s going to lash out again? And so soon?!”

“I get the feeling so, yeah,” Niiue replied.

The horned thing wrapped his arms around Niiue. “Can’t you protect us from him? Please?”

Niiue placed a hand between the horned thing’s horns as he replied, “He’ll be reacting to the outside world, I’m afraid.”

The horned thing sniffled, and released Niiue from his hug. “Well… stay safe, okay?”

Niiue gave the horned thing a wide smile and nodded. “I will. I’m going to go tell the trash can Mook about it as well now, okay?”

The horned thing nodded. “Okay.”

* * *

The Applechasers all let out a sigh of relief.

“Out there scary, boing! Feels safe here,” Colonel Saturn said.

“I sure hope it is. I don’t wanna fight any more lunatics,” Zarbol replied.

Alinivar nodded, then motioned for the others to follow as he began to walk down the grey cliff path.

The first thing the Applechasers saw was a muddy green horned… thing that stood on two legs, like a human. What _was _it supposed to resemble?

The Applechasers walked up to the horned thing, and Alinivar waved.

“And who might you be?” the horned thing asked. “We haven’t had anybody new here for a long time.”

“We are friends of Niiue *click*,” Larice replied. After a second, he turned to Zarbol and quietly asked, “We _are _his friend, correct?”

“Oh, that’s good to hear!” the horned thing said with a smile.

Alinivar let out a little “oh!” and slithered off to the right. Colonel Saturn squeaked as he noticed the blue Mook wander off, and trotted back up to him. Larice and Zarbol followed.

Alinivar had slithered up to a light pink UFO and waved. The UFO watched as Colonel Saturn, Larice and Zarbol caught up, then said, “Ooo, you’re weird. Have you seen Niiue lately? We all miss him.”

Alinivar frowned and pressed his lips together, then glanced down at the cold, smooth ground. His upper eyes scanned the area, and lit up when he saw a green Mook standing not too far away next to a gift box with a blue ribbon. Normally, he would be afraid of other Mooks, but this one brought back memories he thought were buried in the depths of his mind by the “saving the world” business. A few of those… weren’t very good, but he cherished the ones that were, and hopefully he would be able to apologise for his teenage self and make up.

He slithered up to the green Mook, gave a big smile and waved. The green Mook curiously looked him over before telling Alinivar, “You look like me, but you’re not the same colour. Why?”


End file.
